Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính hosted a reception for French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad Olivier Becht on Wednesday in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính asked France to facilitate access to French market by Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and fishery ones, at his reception for French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad Olivier Becht on Wednesday.

The PM expressed a wish that the two countries continue to work closely together to optimize opportunities created by the Việt Nam-EU Free Trade Agreement to boost bilateral trade.

He also urged France to early ratify the Việt Nam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) so as to facilitate equal and mutually benefiting investment relations between Việt Nam and France.

In addition, PM Chính proposed that France push for the early removal of the EC’s IUU “yellow card” against Vietnamese fishery products, in order to benefit French and EU consumers and ensuring livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of labourers in Việt Nam's fishery industry.

Minister Becht said economic-investment-trade cooperation is the pillar of the France-Việt Nam strategic partnership. He affirmed that French businesses have great interest in investment in Việt Nam, and want to accelerate the implementation of key economic cooperation projects of the two countries, including the Nhổn-Hà Nội Station urban railway route in the capital city Hà Nội.

The two sides acknowledged the important achievements in their cooperation, particularly the strong growth of bilateral trade, which increased 10 per cent year on year to reach US$5.3 billion in 2022.

Noting the great potential of bilateral economic cooperation, the French minister pledged to further promote collaboration with Việt Nam in fields of France’s strength such as climate change response, urban transport infrastructure, health care, energy, aviation and e-government.

Becht appreciated the role of the Vietnamese community in France, which he considers an important bridge connecting the two countries. He affirmed that the French Government will continue to create favourable conditions for the community.

The two sides exchanged views on the situation in the South China Sea and underlined the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the sea. They also stressed the significance of settling disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). — VNS