Authorised by the French President, French Ambassador to Việt Nam Olivier Brochet gives the French State’s National Order of the Legion of Honour, Class Commandeur, to former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Đinh Toàn Thắng. — VNA/VNS Photo Việt Đức

HÀ NỘI — Former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Đinh Toàn Thắng has been bestowed the French State’s National Order of the Legion of Honour, Class Commandeur, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to diplomatic ties between Việt Nam and France.

Authorised by the French President, French Ambassador to Việt Nam Olivier Brochet gave the noble order to Thắng at a ceremony in Hà Nội on Wednesday.

Addressing the ceremony, the French diplomat said the Legion of Honour was a well-deserved recognition by the French State of Thắng’s outstanding diplomatic career and his contributions to Việt Nam’s international integration.

He affirmed that Thắng had devoted much of his diplomatic career to consolidating and promoting the friendship and cooperation between Việt Nam and France.

Reviewing the ambassador’s more than 30-year diplomatic journey closely linked to France, Brochet described him as a “special case”, having served four terms at the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris.

Thắng began his career there as an attaché in 1995, before serving as Second Secretary from 2001-2005, Minister Counsellor and Minister from 2010-2014, and finally Ambassador from 2021-2025.

During his tenure from 2021 to 2025, the ambassador made decisive contributions to major advances in bilateral relations. Amid the formidable challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped promote medical solidarity between the two countries while actively maintaining and advancing high-level political dialogues, including Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính’s official visit to France in November 2021 and, notably, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee and President Tô Lâm’s official visit to France in October 2024, which marked a historic milestone as the two countries elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

His tenure also witnessed another landmark in bilateral relations with French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Việt Nam in May last year.

Deeply moved to receive the prestigious decoration from the French Republic, Thắng expressed his sincere and profound gratitude to the French President, Ambassador Olivier Brochet, as well as his family, friends and Vietnamese and French colleagues.

He said that contributing to and nurturing Việt Nam-France relations had been both a motivation and a major goal throughout his career of serving the country. The ambassador expressed his confidence that the Việt Nam-France Comprehensive Strategic Partnership would achieve even greater accomplishments in the future. — VNA/VNS