General Secretary and President To Lam met and worked with the Mayor of Le Havre city.

General Secretary and President To Lam visited the city of Le Havre and had a working meeting with the city's Mayor - former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe.

Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, Mayor of Le Havre City, welcomed General Secretary and President To Lam . (Photo: Tri Dung/VNA)

According to the special correspondent of the Vietnam News Agency, General Secretary and President To Lam visited the French city of Le Havre and had a working meeting with the Mayor of Le Havre, Mr. Edouard Philippe.

Expressing his delight at visiting the city of Le Havre, rich in history, culture and a vibrant maritime economy, General Secretary and President To Lam congratulated the city's leaders and people on their achievements in building Le Havre into one of the important gateways for the world's maritime commercial cargo transport.

The General Secretary and President emphasized that Le Havre is also a place that bears the mark of President Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary activities and is a vivid symbol of friendship between the two countries, a precious heritage that demonstrates the close historical ties between Vietnam and France.

General Secretary and President To Lam highly appreciated Mayor Edouard Philippe’s active contributions to the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and France; and was delighted with the development of cooperation between Le Havre city and Da Nang, contributing to strengthening and expanding cooperation with Vietnamese localities in areas such as people-to-people exchange, seaport development, logistics and maritime transport, marine environmental protection, maritime technology, etc.

On behalf of the people of Le Havre city, Mayor Edouard Philippe warmly welcomed General Secretary and President To Lam to visit the city and introduced the city of Le Havre, a city rebuilt from the ruins after World War II and now has become the seaport center of France and Europe.

Mayor Le Havre expressed special affection for the people, country and people of Vietnam, and deep admiration for President Ho Chi Minh.

Sharing about his recent visits to Vietnam, Mayor Le Havre recalled the good memories and impressions of Vietnam's dynamism and remarkable growth rate; wished to promote cooperation between Le Havre city and Vietnamese localities in the fields of training and fostering high-quality human resources; encouraged French enterprises to increase investment in Vietnam, especially in the city's strong areas.

As Chairman of the International Seaports Association with strengths in waterway transport, shipbuilding, sea tourism... the Mayor of Le Havre affirmed that he will support connecting Vietnamese ports with the world port system.

General Secretary and President To Lam and the Mayor emphasized that the East Sea is the world's lifeline for goods transportation and the importance of ensuring peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

Mayor Edouard Philippe was the former Prime Minister of France from May 2017 to July 2020 and has visited Vietnam many times, most recently in November 2018 when he was still Prime Minister and returned in February 2023, as Mayor of Le Havre./.

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