Paris (VNA) – National Assembly (NA)Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and a high-ranking delegation of the VietnameseNA arrived at Orly Airport in Paris at 17:25 on March 30 (local time),beginning an official visit to France at the invitation of President of the French NA Richard Ferrand.

The delegation werewelcomed at the airport by Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep,Vietnamese Ambassador to UNESCO Tran Thi Hoang Mai, representatives of theVietnamese community and the Vietnamese Embassy in France, President of theFrance-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians Group Stephanie Do and FrenchAmbassador to Vietnam Bertrand Lortholary, among others.

Joining the delegation included Chairman ofthe NA Committee for External Relations Nguyen Van Giau; Secretary General andChief of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc; Chairman of the NA Council for EthnicAffairs Ha Ngoc Chien; Chairman of the NA Law Committee Nguyen Khac Dinh;Chairwoman of the NA Committee for Social Affairs Nguyen Thuy Anh; ProsecutorGeneral of the Supreme People’s Procuracy Le Minh Tri; and many other seniorofficials.

Vietnam and France set up diplomatic relations in April,1973.  The sound political relations between the two countries havebeen marked by high-level meetings, including the 2016 visit of FrenchPresident Francois Hollande, and the 2018 visit of Party General Secretary NguyenPhu Trong.

The two sides have maintained many cooperation mechanisms,including defence-security strategic dialogue and an annual high-level economicdialogue.

Parliamentary partnership has been growing with regulardelegation exchanges and collaboration at multilateral parliamentary forums,especially the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The NA of Vietnam has signed agreements with the Senate andNational Assembly of France. The two parliaments have set up bilateralfriendship parliamentarian groups.

France is the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam inEurope after Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. The country made a two-waytrade value of 5.1 billion USD with Vietnam in 2018, ranking third amongEuropean countries. It is the 16th biggest investor of Vietnam with totalinvestment of 2.8 billion USD, and the leading European ODA provider with totalcommitted capital of 3 billion EUR.

Education-training partnership between the two countries hasdeveloped since early 1980s as France has considered education-training apriority in its cooperation with Vietnam, focusing in teaching and popularizingFrench, tertiary education and post-graduate education in economy, banking,finance, law and new technology.

They have seen progresses in affiliation in science-technology,security-defence, locality-to-locality cooperation, and health care.

As members of the International Organisation of LaFrancophonie (IOF), Vietnam and France have made many collaboration activitieswithin the organisation’s framework.

The visit of NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan is takingplace when the two countries are to organise the 11th conference of cooperationbetween Vietnamese and French localities. 

The visit is expected to promote bilateral cooperation in allfields, making the Vietnam-France strategic partnership more practical. It ishoped to help realize the outcomes of Party General Secretary Nguyen PhuTrong’s past visit and materialize the bilateral joint statement onparliamentary cooperation.-VNA