Hanoi (VNA) – French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe’s officialvisit to Vietnam from November 2-4 is expected to help bolster the bilateralstrategic partnership.

Vietnam and France set up diplomatic ties on April 12, 1973and signed a joint declaration on the Strategic Partnership 40 years later(2013). Vietnam always attaches importance to its traditional friendship andcooperation with France and exerts its efforts to deepen the bilateralstrategic partnership.

In the past years, both sides have maintained the exchangeof high-level delegations and bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as a strategicdialogue on defence-security between the two countries’ Foreign and DefenceMinistries, and an annual high-level dialogue on economic affairs.

In the field of defence-security, France was the firstWestern nation to appoint a defence attaché in Vietnam in 1991. Therelationship in this field has developed well, reflected through regulardelegation exchanges. In recent visits by the two Defence Ministers, both sidesagreed on a bilateral strategic partnership in the defence field.

In terms of economic, trade and investment cooperation,France is Vietnam’s fifth biggest trade partner in Europe, following Germany,the UK, the Netherlands and Italy. In 2017, two-way trade hit 4.6 billion USD,up 11.6 percent from 2016. Of the total, 3.35 billion USD came from Vietnam’sexports which are mainly footwear, garment and textiles, ceramics, rattangoods, seafood, machinery and electronic parts. Vietnam imported 1.27 billionUSD worth of aviation equipment, industrial machines, pharmaceutical andagricultural products, food, and cosmetics.
Bilateral trade in the first six months of this year came to2.3 billion USD.

Last year, France ranked third among European nations and 16th out of 114 nations and territories investing in Vietnam, with 512 validinvestments projects worth 2.8 billion USD. The country’s direct investments inVietnam focus on information and communications, and manufacturing andprocessing, and are spread in 36 localities. To date, Vietnamese investors haverun nine projects in France with a total registered capital of 3.04 millionUSD.

France is Vietnam’s leading ODA provider in Europe andVietnam ranks second among the recipients of France’s ODA in Asia, with a total18.4 billion USD committed from 1993. The Southeast Asian country is also amonga few nations receiving assistance from all three financial aid channels ofFrance: namely ODA, preferential loans of the French Development Agency (AFD)and those of the PrioritySolidarity Fund (FSP). To date, France has provided Vietnam with 2.2billion EUR (2.49 billion USD) in aid and preferential loans.

Cooperation in education and training between the twocountries has formed and developed since 1980s. France always considerseducation and training a priority in its cooperation activities in Vietnam,with the focus on the teaching of French language and human resources trainingin the fields of economic management, banking, finance, law and new technology.Every year, France provides 80 scholarships for Vietnamese students in order tohelp Vietnam train high-quality human resources. Over the past decade, thenumber of Vietnamese students in France has risen by around 40 percent. Franceranks third in receiving Vietnamese students, with over 7,000 students.

The two countries’ cultural exchange has been thriving aswell. The French Government provides about 5 million EUR (5.6 million USD) forcultural cooperation activities with Vietnam each year. The European nationalso ranks seventh among the countries and territories investing in Vietnam’stourism, with 14 projects worth 188 million USD.

Meanwhile, bilateral collaboration in science and technologyhas been implemented through projects funded by the Priority Solidarity Fund. The two Governments signed anagreement on science and technology cooperation in March 2007, thus creatingfavourable conditions for experts, offices, and organisations to intensifycooperation.

In November 2009, both sides inked a cooperation agreementon using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Moreover, cooperation between localities has become atypical feature in the Vietnam-France relations. At present, 38 Frenchlocalities have set up partnership with 18 Vietnamese provinces and cities.

In the field of health, the two countries have 30cooperation projects with the priority given to training.

Currently, there are around 300,000 Vietnamese people livingin France.

The Vietnam visit by PM Édouard Philippe takes place at a timewhen the two countries are celebrating the 45th anniversary ofdiplomatic ties and 5th anniversary of Strategic Partnership.

It is expected to boost political and diplomatic ties,expand economic and trade cooperation, and step up collaboration in securitydefence, education, training, science technology, and energy between Vietnamand France.-VNA