Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with French President Emmanuel Macron

On November 4 (local time), within the framework of an official visit to the French Republic,Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhhave metPresident of FranceEmmanuel Macron and attended the French President's reception at the Presidential Palace.

At the meeting, President Macron welcomed Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to the French Republic during his first trip to Europe as Prime Minister; highly appreciated Vietnam's position and role in the region; wished to further deepen the Vietnam-France Strategic Partnership; thanked the Government and people of Vietnam for supporting medical masks for the French people in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020; announced that France would support Vietnam with an additional 400,000 doses of vaccine through bilateral channels and 970,000 doses of vaccine through the COVAX mechanism, bringing the total number of vaccines France has supported for Vietnam to more than 2 million doses, demonstrating the spirit of cooperation and mutual support to overcome the pandemic.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome that President Macron gave to the Prime Minister and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, and thanked the French Government and people for their support with vaccines and medical equipment, effectively contributing to the fight against the pandemic in Vietnam. The Prime Minister hoped that France would continue to support medical equipment, transfer technology to produce COVID-19 treatment drugs, and support the improvement of Vietnam's medical capacity.

The two leaders discussed international and regional issues of mutual concern. President Macron affirmed the Indo-Pacific strategy, highly appreciated the central role of ASEAN and affirmed the importance of maintaining security, safety, freedom of navigation and aviation, and supported the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, based on international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), especially in the East Sea issue. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the role and position of France in the European Union as well as in the international arena; welcomed countries, including France, to promote their roles and responsibilities, contributing to peace, stability and common prosperity in the region.

Towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and 10th anniversary of the Vietnam-France Strategic Partnership in 2023, the two leaders agreed to jointly develop an annual plan with specific tasks to further deepen the Strategic Partnership. The two leaders highly appreciated the effective cooperation between the two countries in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics, security and defense, culture, health, science, education and training, law and justice, and cooperation between localities. France welcomed and is ready to coordinate with Vietnam to prepare for the 12th Vietnam-France Local Cooperation Conference in Hanoi at the end of 2022.

The two leaders emphasized the need to further strengthen the pillars of economic, trade and investment cooperation in the Vietnam - France Strategic Partnership, and agreed on directions and measures for cooperation in the coming time to further facilitate trade exchanges between the two countries, support businesses and goods from the two countries to penetrate each other's markets; agreed to promote cooperation projects in key areas such as transportation, infrastructure, agriculture, environment, energy and aerospace; and together aim to build long-term industrial partnerships on the basis of high technology transfer and mutual benefit, especially in areas where France has strengths and Vietnam has demand such as high technology, clean energy, organic agriculture, digital technology, etc.

The French President assessed that the vibrant cooperation and cultural exchange between the two countries is a bright spot in bilateral relations and emphasized the important role of the two countries' Cultural Centers in Vietnam and France; hoping that both sides will continue to facilitate the activities of the French Institute in Vietnam as well as the Vietnamese Cultural Center in France. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh agreed with the French President's opinion and suggested that France maintain and further promote health projects, especially with the increasing risk of epidemics. In addition, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the French language and French-language teaching program in Vietnam; hoping that France will create more favorable conditions for students to exchange, study and research in France, increase the number of scholarships and promote support for training public administrative officials for Vietnam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated France's coordination at multilateral forums, especially during Vietnam's tenure as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and hoped that France would be a bridge to further strengthen relations between Vietnam as well as ASEAN and the EU, especially when France prepares to assume the EU presidency in January 2022. The two sides agreed to actively implement and effectively utilize the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and promote the ratification process of the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), creating momentum for economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam, France and the EU. President Macron said that France is ready to strengthen cooperation in developing a sustainable fisheries industry with Vietnam and promised to consider urging the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the "yellow card" warning on Vietnamese fisheries.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also shared the results of the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation's participation in the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26) in the UK, announcing that Vietnam has committed to developing and implementing strong policies and measures, and promoting international cooperation, including implementing mechanisms under the Paris Agreement, to achieve net zero emissions by 2050; hoping that developed countries, including France, will continue to support Vietnam in this field.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President Macron agreed to issue a Joint Statement on the occasion of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's official visit to France to further deepen the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conveyed the invitation of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to President Emmanuel Macron to visit Vietnam. The French President happily accepted the invitation./.

Ha Van