Prime Minster hosts Le Havre Mayor Eduord Philippe

Pham welcomed the visit of the former French Prime Minister which took place on the occasion of the 50^thanniversary of diplomatic ties and 10^th anniversary of the establishment of Viet Nam-France strategic partnership.  

He suggested Eduord Philippe continue advocating the bilateral ties and making contributions to strengthening the strategic partnership in the upcoming time. 

The Vietnamese Government treasures the relations with France, a traditional and strategic partner of Viet Nam, he said, asserting that Viet Nam stands ready to facilitate France's enterprises and universities to promote collaboration with Vietnamese partners.  

The bilateral trade value hit €5.3 billion in 2022, up 10 percent against the previous year, said Pham, adding that both nations have a lot of potentials to foster their trade ties in the time ahead, particularly after the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) becomes effective.

Pham took the occasion to ask France to soon approve the EU-Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and back the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the "yellow card" against Vietnamese seafood. 

He called on Le Havre City to continue supporting Viet Nam's universities to seek for new partners to strengthen training linkages and help Viet Nam improve capacity for its officials. 

He expressed his hope that Eduord Philippe will encourage France's localities, including Le Havre, to bolster collaboration with Viet Nam's localities in promoting people-to-people exchanges and business ties. 

Both sides lauded the effective and substantive development in Viet Nam-France strategic partnership across all sectors with high political trust. 

Eduord Philippe, for his side, said that his visit to Viet Nam aims to boost coordination between the two nations' localities and enterprises as well as education cooperation. 

He pledged to actively support Viet Nam in its socio-economic development, particularly in climate change adaption.