French counterpart Jean Castex (right) welcomed Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính to the talks in Paris, France, late Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

PARIS — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính held talks with his French counterpart Jean Castex in Paris on Wednesday evening (local time), during which he stressed the importance of relations with France in Việt Nam’s foreign policy.

The two leaders informed each other about the situation of each country, and appreciated mutual assistance activities in the past.

Castex said France will provide Việt Nam with an additional 970,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility and 400,000 doses through a bilateral channel, bringing the total number of vaccines supported to Việt Nam so far to more than two million doses.

Chính thanked the French Government for helping Việt Nam in the fight against COVID-19 and hoped that France will continue sharing experience and assisting Việt Nam in training medical personnel, transferring vaccine production technology and adapting to the post-pandemic situation.

The two Prime Ministers discussed orientations as well as measures to enhance cooperation in the future to achieve more practical results.

They agreed to jointly develop a master plan to create strong changes to serve as a basis to bring the bilateral relationship to new heights. They stressed the importance of enhancing the exchange of high-level delegations, improving the effectiveness of dialogue mechanisms, expanding cooperation in all fields, strengthening close coordination in regional and international issues, actively supporting each other at multilateral forums, and increasing the frequency of flights linking the two countries. They also welcomed the organisation of the 12th Việt Nam-France decentralised cooperation conference in Hà Nội in 2022.

The two leaders agreed to implement practical measures to create more favourable conditions for bilateral trade exchanges, and support the two countries’ businesses and goods to approach each other's market. They proposed measures to promote cooperation projects in key fields, build long-term industrial partnerships on the basis of high technology transfer and mutual benefit, especially in the fields that France has strengths and Việt Nam has demands.

Vietnamese and French delegations, led by PM Chính and PM Castex, held talks on various areas of cooperation between the two countries late Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

The French PM asked Việt Nam to create favourable conditions for French businesses to invest and implement cooperation projects in Việt Nam, strengthen defence-security cooperation, and promote relations between National Assembly agencies, promote collaboration in research, science and technology, and continue to facilitate operations of the French Institute in Việt Nam.

Chính acknowledged France's proposals, affirming that Việt Nam wishes for effective support and cooperation from France. He thanked France for maintaining its commitment to official development assistance as well as preferential financial sources for Việt Nam.

He suggested France maintain and further promote the implementation of health projects, and intensify bilateral cooperation in education and training. He said he hopes that France will create more favourable conditions for students to exchange, study and research in France, and increase the number of scholarships.

The two Prime Ministers also exchanged views on international and regional issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea (internationally known as South China Sea) issue, stressing the need for countries to contribute to maintaining peace, stability and prosperity, and ensuring safety, freedom of navigation and aviation and peaceful settlement of international disputes on the basis of international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS).

Castex spoke highly of Việt Nam’s successfully assuming its role as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and once again thanked Việt Nam for supporting France to become ASEAN’s development partner.

Meanwhile, Chính thanked France for its support and coordination at multilateral forums and for making efforts to urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove its "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese fisheries.

The two sides agreed to actively implement the EU-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), accelerate the ratification of the EU-Việt Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), in order to create momentum for trade and investment between Việt Nam, France and the EU.

The Vietnamese Government also shared the outcomes of the high-level Vietnamese delegation's attendance at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) that just took place in the UK, and announced that Việt Nam has committed to building and implementing policies and measures to promote international cooperation, and hopes that developed countries, including France, will continue to support Việt Nam in this field.

PM Castex appreciated contributions of the Vietnamese community in France, which has made for an important bridge in the two countries. PM Chính asks France to continue to support the Vietnamese community in France, especially in the post-pandemic recovery period.

PM Chính also invited the French PM to visit Việt Nam and conveyed the invitation from President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to President Emmanuel Macron to visit as well.

After the talks, the two PMs witnessed the signing of several documents, cooperation agreements and economic contracts, including the cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Justice of Việt Nam and France’s Conseil d'État (Council of State) in 2021-26; Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the fields of satellites, smart cities, digital identification and cybersecurity between the Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and Thales Group and the MoUs of cooperation of Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways and Safran. — VNS

PM Chính and French counterpart Castex witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of understanding for the participation of a French company into Sơn Mỹ 1 power project under the public-private partnership. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang