On the occasion of General Secretary andPresident To Lam's attendance at the 19th Francophone Summit and official visit to the French Republic, French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet gave an interview to a reporter from the Vietnam News Agency about activities within the Francophone framework in Vietnam and prospects for cooperation between the two countries.
- Dear Ambassador, what is the significance of the participation of the highest leader of Vietnam in the 19th Francophone Summit and official visit to the French Republic for the bilateral relations between the two countries as well as within the framework of Francophone cooperation? Could you share about the main topics and agenda of this conference?
Ambassador Olivier Brochet: We are very pleased to welcome General Secretary and President To Lam to attend the 19th Francophone Summit and pay an official visit to the French Republic. This demonstrates Vietnam's deep attachment to the Francophone community and affirms that Vietnam highly values bilateral relations with France.
The official visit of the highest leader of Vietnam to the French Republic will be an opportunity for us to affirm our desire to strengthen our partnership with Vietnam, a country of great importance in Asia, a country with which we have many historical ties and connections within the Francophone framework.
We appreciate the fact that General Secretary and President To Lam, shortly after taking office, led a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to attend the 19th Francophone Summit.
As we know, since the 1990s, the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) - founded in 1970 - has played an important role in Vietnam's international integration activities, typically the 7th Francophonie Summit held in Hanoi in 1997.
Vietnam is well aware of the opportunities that the Francophone community brings, especially in the economic field, as well as the country's contributions to the Francophone community, as it is the largest member country of the International Organization of La Francophonie in Asia.
The 19th Francophone Summit will be held at two iconic French landmarks: the International French Language Center at Villers-Cotterêts Castle (where King François I in the 16th century signed one of his most famous decisions - the Villers-Cotterêts decree, according to which French became the official language in law and administration in France) and the Grand Palais in Paris, a beautiful French architectural work built in the early 20th century, where fencing competitions took place during the recent 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
With the theme “Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in French,” this conference will be an opportunity for heads of state and governments of member countries to exchange, discuss and solve major challenges to the development and innovation process.
Much of the content of the meetings will focus on this issue, both the challenges and opportunities of innovation, especially artificial intelligence.
Besides, like other summits, this conference will also address international issues of common concern.
On the sidelines of the Conference, there will be many events that Vietnam will participate in with other member countries such as the “Francophone Village” with booths introducing the cultural diversity of the Francophone community or the FrancoTech Exhibition on French-speaking businesses and markets.
General Secretary and President To Lam is expected to attend and deliver a speech at the event. In addition, there will be activities to exchange and meet with young people.
We are very pleased to welcome two young Vietnamese people together with two young Cambodian people and two young Lao people to introduce a joint project that all three countries are implementing.
- How does the Ambassador evaluate Francophone activities in Vietnam, Vietnam's role in the Francophone community and the opportunities that this community brings to Vietnam?
Ambassador Olivier Brochet: We actively cooperate with the Vietnamese authorities in the Francophone field. When I say “we” here, I mean GADIF - the Group of Francophone Embassies, Delegations and Organizations in Vietnam.
We meet regularly to discuss activities to promote and develop the Francophone community, mainly in the fields of culture and language.
Within the framework of GADIF, Vietnam can also discuss with us specific issues related to the Francophone community. Francophone activities in Vietnam are vibrant, rich and diverse, which is demonstrated through the International Francophone Day Celebration on March 20 organized by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I would also like to emphasize that the Asia-Pacific Regional Office of the Francophone University Association (AUF) is headquartered in Hanoi, which is extremely significant for Vietnam's university cooperation activities and demonstrates Vietnam's influence in the region.
With a population of about 100 million people, although the number of French speakers today is not as large as it was 20-30 years ago, Vietnam always supports the teaching and learning of French, creating opportunities for young people to access and study at top universities in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.
Economically, the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) has 88 member and observer countries and governments. Thus, Vietnam can access this important market with hundreds of millions of consumers, have the opportunity to attract investment, export more, or simply have a substantive cooperative relationship with the member countries of OIF - a community that shares a common culture and vision.
I believe that the benefits that Vietnam gains from the Francophone community can be encapsulated in the theme of this Summit itself, which is “Creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in French.”
- After more than 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations and 10 years of establishing a strategic partnership, Vietnam-France relations have made strong progress in many fields. Could the Ambassador share the vision and focus of cooperation in the relationship between the two countries to promote potential, strengths, and support each other for mutual development?
Ambassador Olivier Brochet: Vietnam and France have effectively built a relationship that is not only strong and friendly, but also of increasing trust with the desire to strengthen the bilateral partnership.
This was demonstrated by the two countries jointly celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations last year and the official visit to Vietnam by French Minister of the Army Sébastien Lecornu on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu battle last May.
The official visit to France by General Secretary and President To Lam will be an opportunity for the two countries to continue their joint efforts to strengthen their bilateral partnership with new directions of cooperation in areas of mutual interest, as well as the international roles of the two countries to strengthen security. In the field of sustainable development, Vietnam and France can strengthen cooperation in energy and transport, especially railway transport.
Cooperation activities on innovation and creativity are also very promising and practical for Vietnam because there are currently many French enterprises that can share experience and technology with Vietnamese partners, contributing to further strengthening the relationship between the two sides.
During the upcoming meeting between the two countries' senior leaders, Vietnam and France are expected to sign an intergovernmental agreement in the field of education.
We hope that this document will help the French side to coordinate more closely with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training in enhancing French language training in Vietnamese schools, thereby improving the quality and quantity of French speakers in Vietnam.
There is another area that I would like to mention, which is to enhance people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, especially exchanges between the younger generations. We hope that more and more Vietnamese students will choose to study in France, because we know what French education can bring to young people as well as the role of international students in contributing to the development of relations between the two countries in various fields.
On the other hand, we are also pleased to see more and more French students coming to study on exchange, for one or two semesters, at Vietnamese universities that have links with French partners.
These exchange activities will contribute significantly to strengthening relations between the two countries in the future.
Culture is also a central theme in the Vietnam-France partnership. The Vietnamese government has identified the development of cultural and creative industries as one of the important goals to create momentum for growth, including economic growth.
With its strength in this field, France can completely help Vietnam in related projects.
I am very pleased with the development of cooperation between the Ho Guom Theatre and the Royal Theatre of Versailles in France to enrich the performance programs of the Theatre in Hanoi and I especially thank General Secretary and President To Lam for always paying attention and supporting this cooperation.
As you know, the theme of the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-France diplomatic relations is “Sharing culture”, which clearly demonstrates the spirit of cooperation between the two countries in this field, not to bring French cultural products to Vietnam but for the two sides to work together to build policies to promote French cultural values, while transferring tools and skills to help Vietnam develop its cultural and creative industries.
This has been demonstrated in many events, such as the second Photo Hanoi'25 International Photography Festival in Hanoi next year, for which we are currently preparing.
When the event was first held in 2023, Photo Hanoi'23 exhibitions attracted nearly 200,000 visitors and 5 million followers on social media.
This contributes to effectively promoting the art of photography and Vietnam as well as creating opportunities for young artists to shine.
During a recent business trip to Ho Chi Minh City, I visited a French animation studio that is doing quite well, helping to transfer French technology to Vietnam.
If three years ago, their staff was only about 100 people, now this number has doubled. And there are many other areas where the two sides can cooperate through relationships between businesses, public partners or within the framework of decentralized cooperation.
- Thank you very much Ambassador!
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/dai-su-olivier-brochet-viet-nam-co-su-gan-bo-sau-sac-voi-cong-dong-phap-ngu-post980599.vnp
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