Programme promotes Vietnamese localities in France

Paris (VNA) – The Vietnam Provincial Roadshow in France took place in Paris from June 25-27, as part of activities to mark the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and five years of the Vietnam-France strategic partnership.

The event, jointly held by Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy in France and the Permanent Delegation of Vietnam to UNESCO, attracted the participation of officials of Hanoi, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, and central Phu Yen and Quang Ngai provinces, ministries, sectors and businesses of involved localities.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France and Head of the Vietnam Permanent Delegation to UNESCO Ambassador Tran Thi Hoang Mai also joined activities of the Vietnamese delegation.

Within the framework of the programme, the delegation held working session with Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the French Development Agency (AFD) Philippe Bauduin, President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France Valérie Pécresse, and Director General of the union of French cities (Cites Unies France – CUF) Geneviève Sevrin.

They attended a workshop on intensifying Vietnamese-French locality partnership, and another on regional planning and construction experience of Paris capital, met with representatives from French localities such as Ile-de-France, Bordeaux, Val-de-Marne, Poitiers and Cergy-Pontoise and major businesses including Vinci, Dassault Systemes, Pollutec, Seche Environnement, and JCDecaux, and visited several health clinics and waste treatment facilities in Paris.

During these events, both sides spoke highly of positive development in the bilateral strategic partnership, in which cooperation at the local level and people-to-people exchange are an important cooperation pillar that need to be enhanced.

At present, 38 French localities have set up cooperative ties with 18 Vietnamese provinces and cities.

The two sides agreed to coordinate in organising the 11th Vietnamese-French locality cooperation conference in France’s Toulouse city in April 2019, maintain successful cooperative models such as Hanoi – Ile-de-France, Hanoi – Toulouse, Hai Phong – Brest, Lao Cai – Aquitaine, Hue – Aquitaine, Yen Bai – Val de Marne, Can Tho – La Seyne-sur-Mer, and encourage the establishment of new pairs of localities.

Along with such traditional cooperative fields as health, education, water-environment, heritage preservation and sustainable rural development, it is necessary to expand collaboration to new areas like smart city building and digital economy, they said.

The French side committed to maintaining ODA provision for Vietnam, while appreciating the role of Vietnamese localities in successfully carrying out France’s ODA projects in Vietnam.

On this occasion, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France Valérie Pécresse signed an action programme of the two localities for 2018-2021.

The Vietnam Provincial Roadshow is an effort by the Foreign Ministry to coordinate with Vietnam’s representative offices abroad in helping Vietnamese localities tighten their cooperation with foreign partners.-VNA