Vietnamese Ambassador to France Đinh Toàn Thắng. VNA/VNS Photo

PARIS - Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn's trip to Paris is expected to foster Việt Nam's partnership with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and France, stated Vietnamese Ambassador to France Đinh Toàn Thắng.

The diplomat granted Vietnam News Agency an interview ahead of Sơn's visit to attend the OECD’s Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM) at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, and conduct a number of bilateral activities in Paris from May 2-3.

According to the ambassador, the MCM OECD 2024 takes place amid the sound partnership between the OECD and ASEAN countries and Việt Nam in particular as Việt Nam and Australia are co-chairing the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Programme (SEARP) in the 2022-25 period with remarkable achievements.

As a co-chair of the programme, Việt Nam has made positive contributions to the partnership between OECD and the Southeast Asian region. Notably, Việt Nam hosted the OECD Southeast Asia Ministerial Forums in 2022 and 2023 with agendas meeting the requirements of the region in the current situation as well as post-pandemic economic recovery, sustainable development, supply chain participation and FDI optimising.

This year, the MCM OECD 2024 will focus on seeking measures to promote sustainable and inclusive development. The meeting, coincident with the 10th anniversary of the SEARP, is also an opportunity to look back at the relationship between the OECD and Southeast Asia.

The SEARP programme was launched in 2014, aiming to promote cooperation between the OECD and Southeast Asian countries, thus supporting reform and contributing to the sustainable development of countries in this region. In 2024, the programme aims to further strengthen the relationship between the OECD and Southeast Asia through the implementation of the OECD Indo-Pacific Framework, which was adopted at MCM 2023.

Ambassador Thắng said that since joining the OECD Development Centre in 2008, Việt Nam had implemented many studies on development policy consultations for the country within the framework of bilateral and regional research projects. Việt Nam - OECD relations were recently promoted stronger after the two sides signed an MOU in 2021 and an Action Programme to implement the MOU in 2022, he noted.

Việt Nam had received support from the OECD in building and making recommendations on economic policy, State-owned enterprise governance, tax policy development, and carbon credit market. The two sides were implementing good cooperation in the financial sector, especially through Việt Nam signing and ratifying the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS MLI) and the Convention on Multilateral Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC).

Việt Nam and the OECD were also continuing to implement many specific projects in the Action Programme to implement the MOU, including the report on the quality of foreign direct investment and the Vietnam Economic Report.

Each year, Việt Nam also actively participated in the work of the OECD Development Centre, he added.

FM Sơn, who attended the MCM for the first time in 2023, is scheduled to deliver speeches at the meeting's major discussions, including a session marking the 10th anniversary of the SEARP, and discussions on promoting sustainable and inclusive development, according to the ambassador.

He will have meetings with OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, and partners and heads of delegations to the meeting.

Sơn will also conduct other bilateral activities with officials of the host country to promote bilateral cooperation, especially as the two sides just celebrated the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership in 2023.

Ambassador Thắng underlined that there were many grounds to be optimistic about Việt Nam - France relations, which had an important accumulation in both quantity and quality with a widespread and even partnership system at all levels, from central to local, from ministries to businesses and from associations to cultural and educational institutions.

The two countries' foreign policies also saw an important intersection in the context of rapid changes and many challenges in the world. In recent meetings, high-ranking leaders of the two countries shared many similarities in terms of bilateral cooperation and on many important international issues, valuing and giving high priority to each other in initiatives for peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

High-ranking leaders of the two countries agreed to continue strengthening political trust and people-to-people exchanges, promoting and creating progress in cooperation in fields such as diplomacy, defence-security, economics, trade, investment, aviation, energy transition, science and technology, culture, local cooperation and within the Francophone community.

According to Ambassador Thắng, during his stay in France, Minister Sơn will meet with the Secretary General of the International Organisation of Francophonie on cooperation between Việt Nam and the Francophone community as well as preparations for the 19th Francophone Summit slated for October in France.

Việt Nam and France are eying many opportunities to promote strong growth in their relations in the following years and decades.

The positive results achieved and the common perceptions between the two countries about the vision of bilateral relationship are important foundations for the two sides to continue to develop their connections more deeply and widely. VNS