Paris (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with hisFrench counterpart Jean Castex in Paris on November 3 evening (local time), duringwhich he stressed the importance of the relations with France in Vietnam’sforeign policy.

The two leaders informed each other about the situation ofeach country, and appreciated mutual assistance activities between the twocountries over the past time.

Castex said France will provide Vietnam with an additional 970,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility and 400,000 doses through a bilateral channel, bringing the total number of vaccines supported to Vietnam so far to more than 2 million doses.

Chinh thanked the French Government for helping Vietnam in the fight againstCOVID-19 and hoped that France will continue sharing experience and assistingVietnam in training medical personnel, transferring vaccine productiontechnology and adapting to the post-pandemic context.

The two Prime Ministers discussed orientations as well asmeasures to enhance cooperation in the coming time to achieve more practicalresults.

They agreed to jointly develop a master plan to createstrong changes to serve as a basis to bring the bilateral relationship to a newheight. They stressed the importance of enhancing the exchange of high-leveldelegations, improving the effectiveness of dialogue mechanisms, expandingcooperation in all fields, strengthening close coordination in regional andinternational issues, actively supporting each other at multilateral forums, andincreasing the frequency of flights linking the two countries. They also welcomedthe organisation of the 12th Vietnam-France decentralised cooperation conference in Hanoi in2022.

The two leaders agreed to implement practical measures tocreate more favourable conditions for bilateral trade exchanges, and support thetwo countries’ businesses and goods to approach each other's market. They proposedmeasures to promote cooperation projects in key fields, build long-termindustrial partnerships on the basis of high technology transfer and mutualbenefit, especially in the fields that France has strengths and Vietnam hasdemand.

The French PM asked Vietnam to create favourable conditionsfor French businesses to invest in and implement cooperation projects inVietnam, strengthen defence-security cooperation, and promote relations betweenNational Assembly agencies, promote collaboration in research, science andtechnology, and continue facilitate operations of the French Institute inVietnam.

Chinh acknowledged France's proposals, affirming that Vietnam wishes foreffective support and cooperation from France. He thanked France for maintainingits commitment to official development assistance as well as preferentialfinancial sources for Vietnam. He suggested France maintain and further promote theimplementation of health projects, and intensify bilateral cooperation ineducation – training. He said he hopes that France will create more favourableconditions for students to exchange, study and research in France, and increasethe number of scholarships.

The two Prime Ministers also exchanged views oninternational and regional issues of mutual concern, including the East Seaissue, stressing the need for countries to contribute to maintaining peace,stability and prosperity, and ensuring safety, freedom of navigation and aviationand peaceful settlement of international disputes on the basis of internationallaw, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982(UNCLOS).

Castex spoke highly of Vietnam's successfully assuming its role asa non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and once againthanked Vietnam for supporting France to become ASEAN’s development partner.

Meanwhile, Chinh thanked France for its support and coordination atmultilateral forums and for making efforts to urge the European Commission (EC)to soon remove its "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese fisheries.

The two sides agreed to actively implement the EU-VietnamFree Trade Agreement (EVFTA), accelerate the ratification of the EU-VietnamInvestment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), in order to create momentum for tradeand investment between Vietnam, France and the EU.

Prime Minister Chinh also shared the outcomes of thehigh-level Vietnamese delegation's attendance at the 26th United NationsClimate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) that just took place in theUK, and announced that Vietnam has committed to building and implementing policiesand measures to promote international cooperation, and hopes that developedcountries, including France, will continue to support Vietnam in this field.

PM Castex appreciated contributions of the Vietnamesecommunity in France.

PM Chinh invited the French PM to visit Vietnam and conveyed the invitation from President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to President Emmanuel Macron to visit the Southeast Asian country.

After the talks, the two PMs witnessed the signing ofseveral documents, cooperation agreements and economic contracts between thetwo sides./.