Viet Nam, France seek stronger parliamentary cooperation

Ms Nguyen Thuy Anh, who is also Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA)'s Committee for Social Affairs and President of the Viet Nam-France Friendship and Cooperation Association, had meetings with the President of the French Parliament's France-Viet Nam Friendship Parliamentarians' Group Anne Le Henanff, and Vice President of the France-Viet Nam Friendship Parliamentarians' Group at the French Senate Laurence Muller-Bronn.

Showing her delight at the growth of ties between the two countries, especially since the two sides set up their strategic partnership in 2013, Anh affirmed that Viet Nam always treasures relations with France and highly values the role of France in the region and the world.

Hailing the contributions of the two friendship parliamentarian groups to the bilateral legislative partnership, she expressed her hope that French parliamentarians would continue to cooperate with their Vietnamese peers to promote bilateral relations further in 2024 and the following years.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang asked the two friendship parliamentarian groups to continue striving to push the French Parliament to approve the EU-Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) soon while contributing their voice to the European Commission to remove the "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese seafood.

The French side acknowledged Viet Nam's proposals. They affirmed that they will try to coordinate with other parties to promote activities that strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

To promote the Viet Nam-France cooperation in health care, Anh and Thang had a working session with the France-Viet Nam Medical Federation, hailing French doctors' contributions to caring for public health in Viet Nam and listening to their opinions.

During her stay in France, Anh also held a working session with leaders of the France-Viet Nam Friendship Association (AAFV) to explore the French side's ideas on fostering the collaboration between the AAFV and the Viet Nam-France Friendship and Cooperation Association, thus contributing to increasing people-to-people exchange as well as friendship and solidarity between the two peoples.

As the Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophone (APF) 's Viet Nam Sub-Committee, Anh had a working session with APF Secretary General Damien Cesselin to discuss a number of cooperation contents of the Vietnamese NA in this multilateral mechanism./.