Vietnamese Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung visits France

Paris (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung is paying a working visit to France from October 26-28 to seek measures to continue cementing ties between Vietnam and France.

During his trip, Dung had working sessions with Minister of Environment François de Rugy, and CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD) Rémy Rioux, paid a courtesy visit to Vice President of the Senate Philippe Dallier, and received representatives from several French groups and companies.

The Deputy PM also worked with officials of the French Prime Minister Office to prepare for PM Édouard Philippe’s upcoming visit to Vietnam.

During the meetings, both sides stressed that the Vietnam-France Strategic Partnership has developed strongly over the past years. Currently, France is the only European nation Vietnam has cooperative mechanisms in all fields, ranging from politics, security, defence to economy, science, culture and education.

Together with the official visit to France by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong in March 2018, the upcoming visit by PM Philippe manifests the trust and closeness between senior leaders of the two countries. During the French PM’s visit, the two sides expect to sign different agreements on digitalization, health and communications.

The two sides affirmed their wishes to improve the efficiency of existing mechanisms to intensify bilateral relations at all levels. They agreed that economic cooperation is a priority pillar in the bilateral strategic partnership, but needs to be fostered to match fine political ties.

They vowed to continue supporting the implementation of economic cooperation projects, and creating favourable conditions for the two countries’ enterprises to step up business connectivity in the fields of health, agriculture and aerospace.

Dung urged the French Government and Senate to early complete necessary procedures to officially sign a free trade agreement (FTA) and an investment protection agreement (IPA) between the European Union and Vietnam in late 2018 and ratify them in early 2019, so as to realise huge benefits of the EU-Vietnam FTA.

The Deputy PM said that he welcomed and hoped France will has a stronger voice in supporting the settlement of disputes in the East Sea by peaceful measures, upholding the supremacy of law in seas and oceans as well as ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.

At his meetings with Environment Minister François de Rugy, and CEO of the AFD Rémy Rioux, Deputy PM Dung appreciated France’s assistance to Vietnam through AFD aid worth over 2 billion EUR (2.28 billion USD) for 80 projects that has helped Vietnam implement green growth goals and Paris Agreement commitments.

The French officials promised to expand cooperation with Vietnam in different fields such as environmental protection, disaster prevention and control, and natural resources development and protection, and support Vietnam in making policies to adapt to climate change and drawing scenarios to seek measures to mitigate climate change impacts.

Receiving leaders of Total and Air Liquide Groups and Aaquius company, Dung encouraged them to continue expanding investment in Vietnam in the fields of renewable energy and green development to help the country carry out international commitments to climate change adaptation.-VNA