Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính  (right) had talks with French virologist Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi in Hà Nội on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính received in Hà Nội on Tuesday French virologist Prof. Francoise Barre-Sinoussi during which he asked France in general, the Paris-based Pasteur Institute and the Professor, to encourage scientists to continue conducting research, especially those on emerging infectious diseases in Việt Nam.

The PM expressed his admiration for the French professor, who co-discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS in 1983, received a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008. Since 1988, the professor has come to Vietnam more than 20 times and provided training for and helped scientists, hospitals and research institutes connect with experts around the world and join international research network.

Chính said that the Việt Nam-France cooperation has been continuously strengthened and developed over the past time, including medical collaboration, especially in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. He affirmed that Việt Nam appreciated the results of medical cooperation with France in general and with the Pasteur Institute in particular.

He suggested that France in general, the Pasteur Institute and Prof. Barre-Sinoussi encourage scientists to continue conducting research, especially those on emerging infectious diseases in Việt Nam; further support Việt Nam in expanding cooperative activities, exchanging experiences, training scientific staff, building facilities, transferring technology, and implementing research projects in preventing and controlling HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C and other infectious diseases in Việt Nam.

The PM proposed continuing technical assistance and choosing Việt Nam as one of the global research sites in the field of health in general and monitoring the status of epidemic models in particular, consulting on developing policies to meet the goal of ending HIV/AIDS and other epidemics in the country.

He also suggested helping Việt Nam in training medical human resources, increasing scholarships for Vietnamese medical students and staff to study and practice in France, acting as a bridge for scientists to exchange and work in the two countries, and providing funding for Việt Nam to implement specific programmes and projects in the health sector.

Prof. Barre-Sinoussi and her colleagues thanked the Vietnamese Government and Prime Minister for their support and for creating conditions for the two sides to cooperate and effectively implement projects in the field of health, serving as a model for the world to follow.

They said that they will continue to accompany Việt Nam not only in the fight against HIV but also in the prevention and control of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, tuberculosis, hepatitis, monkeypox, dengue fever and other emerging infectious diseases.

They added they are ready to provide technical assistance, exchange research, support human resources training in the health sector for Việt Nam and act as a bridge connecting Vietnamese scientists and those in the world as the Vietnamese Prime Minister suggested. — VNS