 |
French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet answers questions from the press. Photo: Viet Duc – VNA |
* France highly values the visit of General Secretary andPresident To Lam
According to Ambassador Olivier Brochet, the recent visit to the 19th Francophone Summit and official visit to the French Republic by General Secretary and President To Lam was a very successful and important visit. This was the first time in 22 years that a Vietnamese head of state visited France, and General Secretary and President To Lam was also the only leader to have a bilateral visit on the sidelines of the Francophone Summit.
“The French side highly values this visit, with the visit program including an official reception ceremony, press conference and talks chaired by the French President,” Ambassador Olivier Brochet emphasized.
During the visit, General Secretary and President To Lam visited Montreau Park (Montreuil city) - where there is a statue and memorial site of President Ho Chi Minh . The delegation also visited Sainte-Adresse city to inaugurate a memorial plaque named after President Ho Chi Minh - this is where he lived for a year.
According to Ambassador Olivier Brochet, General Secretary and President To Lam's journey to these places shows the historical element and uniqueness in the relationship between France and Vietnam.
Ambassador Olivier Brochet shared that what impressed him most about the discussions between General Secretary and President To Lam and the French leaders was the mutual trust and desire to work together towards an increasingly better future of cooperation. That trust was the important foundation for General Secretary and President To Lam and French President Emmanuel Macron to agree to upgrade the bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The two leaders assigned the two Foreign Ministries to take the lead in developing an action plan to realize the goals of deepening the bilateral relationship in a more practical manner.
*Solving global problems together
With the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership, France is the first European country to have a relationship at this level with Vietnam. According to the French Ambassador, this reflects France's recognition of Vietnam's important position and role in actively participating with France - a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council - in all global policies to contribute to ensuring peace and stability in the world and the region.
“During his talks with General Secretary and President To Lam, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his agreement with the opinions that General Secretary and President To Lam recently expressed at the United Nations General Assembly. The two leaders shared many similar views and I believe that the upgrading of bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership demonstrates the unity and desire for cooperation between the two sides,” the Ambassador shared.
Ambassador Olivier Brochet said the leaders of the two countries affirmed the central role of ASEAN and France is ready to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam and ASEAN, contributing to maintaining peace and cooperation in the region and the world.
“Vietnam plays an important role in ASEAN not only because of its area, population, and economic dynamism, but also because it is one of the countries that best understands the value of peace and the need to ensure peace and stability. France and Vietnam always strive to protect peace in the region and the world. That is the foundation for the two countries to strengthen cooperation with each other,” the Ambassador emphasized, affirming that France highly appreciates Vietnam’s viewpoint on ending violence, reducing tensions and calling on all parties to resolve conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East, etc. by peaceful means, respecting international law. France hopes that Vietnam will further promote its role in ensuring peace and stability in the world.
In addition to current international political issues, the French Ambassador also said that the leaders of Vietnam and France during their talks and meetings also expressed their interest and shared common visions in areas such as climate change, biodiversity, artificial intelligence (AI)... as well as the development of the Francophone movement.
*Opening up opportunities to further promote cooperation in various fields
According to Ambassador Olivier Brochet, the official visit of General Secretary and President To Lam to France and the upgrading of bilateral relations between the two countries have opened up opportunities for the two countries to promote existing cooperation potential in various fields.
“One of the important areas we will focus on in the coming time is the cooperation strategy on defense and security, followed by the fields of transportation and energy, innovation as well as student exchange to strengthen the cooperative relationship between our two countries in all areas,” said Ambassador Olivier Brochet.
Specifically, in the field of innovation and scientific research, the Ambassador said that this is an area in which Vietnam and France have had close relations for 30 years with very good results, with the most prominent example being the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH, also known as the Vietnam-France University). Currently, there are many relationships between universities and research institutions in France and Vietnam, including cooperation between the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi and French partners in educational and training cooperation projects.
Many French enterprises also have cooperation in this field. After the training process, enterprises have recruited Vietnamese students.
Also in the field of innovation, many French partners have cooperated with the Vietnam National Innovation Center, contributing to creating strong connections between Vietnam's high-tech zones. The French side is also very interested in Vietnamese startups.
In the field of transportation, the Ambassador said that France expressed its interest in cooperating and supporting Vietnam in developing its railway and seaport systems, as well as continuing to promote cooperation in aviation.
“The French side can share skills and capital to accompany Vietnam's development, contributing to the sustainable development between our two countries,” Ambassador Olivier Brochet emphasized, adding that France not only hopes for financial growth in cooperation, but also hopes for the cooperation process between the two countries to revolve around accompanying factors, such as personnel training or technology transfer.
In the energy sector, the Ambassador said that France highly appreciated Vietnam's strong commitment and determination to carbon neutrality with the goal of achieving zero carbon neutrality in Vietnam by 2050.
In this field, according to the Ambassador, France has a lot of technology, and there are also many large enterprises that can accompany and share with Vietnam in the process of sustainable development and realizing the above goal. The Ambassador expressed: "We hope that the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries that we have just agreed to establish during the recent visit will create conditions for French enterprises to have a stronger presence and operation in cooperation with Vietnam in this field".
In the field of health, a field of cooperation that has also been going on for more than 30 years, the Ambassador said that France hopes that this field will have breakthroughs in the coming time to meet the health care needs of the Vietnamese people, which have changed during the country's development process.
Another area that Ambassador Olivier Brochet said is one of the priorities for cooperation in the coming time is agriculture. In this area, according to the Ambassador, the French side shares the Vietnamese side's desire to promote cooperation and share technology to help Vietnam have an ecological agriculture and increase the value of agricultural products./.
![[Infographic] In 2025, 47 products will achieve national OCOP](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/402x226/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/7/16/5d672398b0744db3ab920e05db8e5b7d)
Comment (0)