Herve Conan, Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Vietnam (photo: Xuan Khu/ VNA)

The Vietnam-France Strategic Partnership is built on four pillars: politics and diplomacy; national defense and security; economics, trade, and investment; and  culture, education, and training.

France is Vietnam’s 5th largest trading partner in Europe. Two-way trade grew at an average of 15.7% annually in the 2011-2019 period and reached 4.8 billion USD last year. France is the third largest European investor in Vietnam with a total registered investment capital of 3.8 billion USD.

Bilateral trade and investment cooperation has been targeted on specialized, high-tech, and mutually complementary fields.

Herve Conan, Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) in Vietnam, said that over the last 30 years AFD has mobilized more than 2.6 billion euros for over 100 development projects in Vietnam.

“Our cooperation with Vietnam has been expanded from rural development and poverty reduction to many urban areas. AFD provides finance and expertise and promotes equal exchange. We share our experience and lessons with Vietnam and Vietnam chooses its own path of development,” Conan said.

Marie Christine Oghly, Vice Chair of the Paris IledeFrance Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Vietnam and France share a huge potential for economic development.

“Vietnam is an important country in France’s diplomatic and economic cooperation. At CCI IledeFrance, we always seek to promote this relationship. We have maintained an extremely strong relationship and French businesses’ interest in Vietnam has never waned, because Vietnam has successfully integrated into the global value chain,” Oghly said.

Cooperation between localities of the two countries is considered a unique and successful factor with the organization of local cooperation conferences alternating every two years between each country. 12 conferences have been held to lay the foundation for hundreds of cooperation projects.

Deputy Mayor of Nantes, Aymeric Seassau, said: “Vietnam is a big country in the Francophonie with whom we want to deepen our relationship. We’re always ready to work with the Vietnamese government to promote cultural and economic cooperation and deepen the Vietnam-France friendship.”

Philippe Pradal, a parliamentarian and former Deputy Mayor of Nice, said: “There is a great willingness for collaboration, which has been demonstrated in cooperation between the University of Nice and their Vietnamese counterparts. The basis for cooperation is that we know clearly about Vietnam’s great culture and that the two countries shared a historical period. In France, Vietnamese culture is one of the most famous, recognized and respected cultures.”

French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet (Photo: VNA)

With extensive and comprehensive development in all fields, Vietnam-France cooperation is now heading toward the future with greater ambition and vision. French Ambassador to Vietnam, Olivier Brochet, said it’s important that the two sides have completely overcome the difficult memories of the past.

The French Defense Minister and the Secretary of State in charge of Veterans and Memory will attend the 70th anniversary of the Dien Dien Phu Victory of 1954 being held in Dien Bien Province.

Ambassador Brochet shared: “I believe that it will be a very important moment for bilateral relations because through this event, we show the Vietnamese and French people as well as the whole world that we can look back at the past and accept it. 70 years later, we have become friends and we can stand together on the site of the former battlefield to build a future.”

Benoit Guidée, Director of the Asia-Australia Department of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that France has a greater relationship with Vietnam than any other country in the Asia-Pacific. It is a human to human connection, which has been historically tested and will ensure strong Vietnam-France relations into the future.