PARIS — General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam’s (CPV’s) Central Committee Nguyễn Phú Trọng and French National Assembly (NA) President Francois de Rugy marked the anniversary of Vietnam-France ties.

The two leaders had attended a ceremony in honour of the 45th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties at the NA headquarters in Paris on Monday afternoon.

Addressing the event, NA President Rugy said Việt Nam and France had established diplomatic ties on April 13, 1973, starting a new chapter in their bilateral relationship. In the following years, France overcame difficulties to accompany Việt Nam during the country’s struggle for national liberation and national reunification.

The legislator said Việt Nam is France’s important partner in Southeast Asia, which is developing dynamically.

In 2013, the two countries signed a strategic partnership and cooperated in various realms, from politics, economics, culture and education to science, the parliamentary channel, the military and strategy.

The French leader described Việt Nam as a pillar of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with high growth, adding that the country’s GDP had increased 15 times over the past 30 years.

He highlighted the increasing presence of French businesses in Việt Nam, as well as the number of Vietnamese students in France, reaching some 7,000 students.

Besides this, Việt Nam and France have joined hands in coping with global challenges, such as climate change in the Mekong and Red River Deltas, the leader said.

In his remarks, Party General Secretary Trọng emphasised that since the two countries established diplomatic ties, France has remained Việt Nam’s leading partner in Europe and the world at large.

The Việt Nam-France relationship is always among the priorities of Việt Nam’s foreign policy, he stated.

Trong stressed diverse cooperation between Việt Nam and France, both bilaterally and multilaterally, allowing the two countries to consult each other and share their viewpoints on many regional and international issues.

He also noted the diverse exchange of culture between the two countries over time.

France is not only Việt Nam’s leading European sponsor but also its co-operation partner in various spheres, the Party chief said, adding that priorities had been assigned to bilateral collaboration in education and scientific research.

He cited hundreds of agreements signed between Vietnamese and French universities and research institutes.

Co-operation between the two countries’ localities has also been expanded with the participation of 20 French localities and 15 cities and provinces of Việt Nam.

Việt Nam and France established a strategic partnership five years ago, demonstrating their mutual political trust, he said, underlining enhanced bilateral coordination in regional and international issues.

Party General Secretary Trong called on the two countries to scale up efforts to deepen the strategic partnership, increase their political trust and high-level exchanges and meetings, improve the efficiency of dialogue and cooperation mechanisms and step up cooperation in all fields, as well as expand people-to-people exchanges, enhance cooperation between localities and intensify coordination in regional and international issues of shared concern.

The two leaders then witnessed the signing of six cooperation documents, comprising a letter of intention on universe technology between Việt Nam’s Ministry of Science and Technology and France’s Airbus Defence and Space, a co-operation programme in 2018 between Việt Nam’s justice ministry and the Supreme Council of Notary of France and an agreement on the research and planning of maritime natural resources between Việt Nam’s Academy of  Science and Technology and the French Research Institute for Development.

The other documents are a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in intellectual property between Việt Nam’s Intellectual Property Department and France’s National Industrial Property Institute; an agreement between Việt Nam Airlines, Air France, Air France Industry KLM Engineering and Maintenance of France, and another MoU on purchasing 24 aircraft between Bamboo Airline, FLC of Việt Nam and France’s Airbus. — VNS