French defense minister to attend Dien Bien Phu victory ceremony
VGP - French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu and Secretary of State Patricia Miralles will attend a grand ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory on May 7.
The event will take place in Dien Bien Phu, the capital city of Dien Bien Province in northern Viet Nam.
Miralles is scheduled to attend a ceremony marking the completion of the Muong Thanh Bridge lighting system, a project funded by the French city of Lyon and the French Development Agency and implemented with the support of light experts from Lyon.
On that day in 1954, the Vietnamese revolutionary army won a globe-shaking victory over French colonial troops after a 56-day military campaign in Muong Thanh Valley, Lai Chau Province, which is now Dien Bien Province.
Viet Nam's invitation to this celebration and the coming visit of French Minister Lecornu demonstrate the good bilateral relations, the friendship between the two countries, and the common desire of both sides to strengthen their partnership, the embassy stated in a press release on Friday.
During his stay in Viet Nam, the French Minister of the Armed Forces is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Minister of Defense Phan Van Giang, and Head of the Party Central Committee's External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung.
A letter of intent between the French Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense on defense cooperation will be inked.
During a phone call on October 20, 2023, Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed their wish to further strengthen the Viet Nam-France partnership in the coming years.
The two leaders agreed to work together for regional stability, cooperate to respond to global challenges such as climate change and energy transition, and support development through innovation./.