Paris (VNA) – Vietnam and France see new opportunities to further strengthentheir relationship, which witnessed strong development over the last 45 years,heard a conference held by the Asia Centre in Paris on April 9.

The event offered a venue for historians, foreign relations experts and thosewho made significant contributions to the bilateral ties to review cooperation achievementsbetween Vietnam and France, and discuss measures to foster the relations in thecoming time.

According to Duong Van Quang, former Vietnamese Ambassador to France, the geopoliticalfactor has a great impact on bilateral relations.

He stressed that the recent official visit to France by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen PhuTrong was a history trip that opens up new opportunities for the bilateralrelations.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep said France was among the firstwestern countries to set up relations with Vietnam, and forgive debts for thewar-torn country.

Promoting relations with France has been one of the priorities in Vietnam'sforeign policy for many years, he emphasised, noting that France is not only theleading bilateral donor in Europe for Vietnam but also a partner of Vietnam inmany fields.

Parliamentarian Stepphanie Do, Chairwoman of the France-Vietnam FriendshipParliamentarians’ Group, appreciated CPV General Secretary Trong’s visit, whichwitnessed the signing of many economic agreements between the two sides.

Vietnam has gradually asserted its role in the international arena thanks to itsdynamic economic development in recent years, she said.

She noted that the signing of the Strategic Partnership agreement between thetwo countries five years ago showed the upgraded political trust and deepened theircooperation in five key fields of politics-diplomacy, defence-security, economy-trade-investment,development partnership, and culture-education-training-scientificresearch-justice.

Along with cooperation between Party and Government agencies, connection among legislativebodies and localities of France and Vietnam have also recorded fruitful development,while their coordination in regional and international issues has ceaselessly bolstered,she affirmed.

However, participants said the economic ties between the two countries are notto match their good political relations. France is the fifth largest tradepartner of Vietnam in Europe, and ranks 16th among investors inVietnam.

Claude Blanchemaison, Governor for France at the Asia-Europe Foundation,stressed the necessity to ratify and enforce the Vietnam-European Union FreeTrade Agreement next year.

French enterprises need to try harder to make inroads into the Vietnamesemarket, a huge potential market with nearly 100 million people, he stressed.

Strengthening the bilateral ties is an objective and necessary requirement forthe benefits of both countries, especially in the context of the increasingrole of France in Europe and the world, whilst Vietnam is a dynamically developingeconomy in Southeast Asia, participants said.-VNA