French President Francois Hollande (L) and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Dinh La Thang (Source: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City’s officials pledged to work with France on measures to bolster bilateral trade and investment, as well as to facilitate market access for each other’s products.
During a reception for French President Francois Hollande in Ho Chi Minh City on September 7, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Dinh La Thang also assured the guest that the city will continue facilitating business operations, especially in the fields of France’s strengths such as finance-banking, trade, transport, post-telecommunications, electronics and information technology, among others.
Thang expressed his wish that France will continue providing official development assistance for the city, with a focus on infrastructure, clean water supply and environment.
In education-training, he wished that France would give support to programmes on training talented students in the city’s universities, offer more scholarships to Vietnamese students and assist Vietnam in training government officials.
The French President, for his part, said the bilateral strategic partnership, which was established in 2013, has brought about fruitful results in environment and health care.
He promised to introduce the latest technologies to Vietnam and believed that the outcomes of his visit will open up more business opportunities in trade, culture and education, among others.
The guest wished that both sides would work closely together in education-training, especially in the development of French speaking community, French culture in Vietnam and Vietnamese culture in France.
President Hollande suggested including French language into school curricula in Ho Chi Minh City, noting that language training cooperation is a bridge to strengthen mutual understanding and trust.
The same day, the President met with the French business community in the city and visited the Heart Institute which is a model of health care cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and French partners.-VNA
