Vietnam, France deepen strategic partnership

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with French President Emmanuel Macron and attended a banquet hosted by the French President on Thursday.

During the meeting, President Macron welcomed the official visit to France by PM Chinh during his first trip to Europe as Prime Minister of Vietnam. He spoke highly of Vietnam's role and position in the region, and expressed his wish to further deepen the Vietnam-France strategic partnership.

The French President thanked Vietnam for giving medical masks to France when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020, and announced that France will provide Vietnam with an additional 400,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine through the bilateral channel and 970,000 other doses through the COVAX mechanism, raising the total number of vaccines donated to Vietnam so far to more than 2 million doses.

PM Chinh thanked France for the support in vaccine and medical supplies and said he hoped the European country will continue to help Vietnam in medical supplies and the production technology of medicine for COVID-19 treatment.

As 2023 will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam-France diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of their Strategic Partnership, both leaders agreed to jointly develop annual plans with specific tasks to deepen bilateral ties. President Macron said France is ready to coordinate with Vietnam to prepare for the 12th Vietnam-France decentralized cooperation conference in Hanoi in 2022.

Discussing global and regional issues of mutual concern, the French President said that in its Indo-Pacific strategy France highly appreciated ASEAN's centrality, as well as attaches importance to ensuring security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight. He voiced his support for the settlement of disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, particularly concerning the East Sea issue.

PM Chinh hailed France's role in the European Union and the international arena, and welcomed countries, including France, to bring into full play their role and responsibility to contribute to common peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

The two leaders agreed to issue a joint statement on the occasion of PM Chinh's visit to France.

PM Chinh conveyed invitations to visit Vietnam from Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to President Macron, and the invitations were accepted with pleasure.

(ANI)

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