Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang on September 19 received a delegation from the France – Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group in the French Senate led by its Chairman Senator Alain Cadec during their visit to Vietnam.

At the meeting, Hang suggested that the friendship groups in both countries further promote their role as a bridge to foster cooperation between the two legislatures in particular, and Vietnam-France relations in general.

Senator Cadec affirmed that the French Senate and the group will continue to support the deepening of bilateral ties, commensurate with the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and stand ready to accompany Vietnam in its new stage of development.

Agreeing with Hang’s recommendations, Cadec stressed the need to fully tap the potential for economic cooperation, particularly in strategic sectors such as infrastructure, including seaports, aviation, high-speed rail and urban transport, as well as energy diversification and security. He expressed support for the early ratification of the EU–Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) by the French Parliament.

The senator also acknowledged Vietnam’s efforts to implement the European Union’s recommendations on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, pledging to advocate for the European Commission to soon lift its “yellow card” warning on Vietnamese seafood exports.

Hang underlined that Vietnam highly valued France’s cooperation in education and high-quality human resource training, science, technology and innovation, healthcare, culture, archiving and preservation. She called for deeper collaboration in these fields, including efforts to restore and promote the historical and cultural value of Long Bien bridge. On this occasion, the deputy minister encouraged the friendship group and French senators to use their role and influence to continue supporting the Vietnamese community living, studying, and working in France.

Both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in tourism, people-to-people exchanges, Francophonie, and local-to-local connections, while working towards the 13th Vietnam-France locality-to-locality cooperation conference to be held in France.

🃏 Regarding the East Sea, the two sides reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, prosperity and a rules-based international order. They stressed the significance of freedom and safety of navigation and overflight in the East Sea, and reiterated support for ASEAN’s position on resolving disputes through peaceful means, in line with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)./.