To Lam meets top French legislators
VGP - General Secretary and President To Lam had separate meetings with President of the French National Assembly (NA) Yael Braun-Pivet and President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher in Paris on October 7 within the framework of his official visit to France.
General Secretary and President To Lam (L) meets President of the French National Assembly (NA) Yael Braun-Pivet, Paris, France, October 7, 2024 - Photo: VNA
At these meetings, To Lam expressed his delight at the two sides' decision to elevate the Viet Nam-France relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
He suggested that both sides increase mutual visits at all levels, especially high level and France soon re-establish the Viet Nam-France Parliamentary Friendship Group to bring the two countries' parliaments and people closer together.
France is currently Viet Nam's fourth-largest trade partner and the second-largest investor in the EU, as well as the leading European country in providing official development assistance (ODA) to Viet Nam, noted the Vietnamese leader.
He urged the French National Assembly to expedite the ratification of the EU-Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to boost investments between Viet Nam and France.
He also called on the French parliament to push for the European Commission (EC)'s prompt lifting of its "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese seafood exports.
To Lam called on France to assist Viet Nam in adapting to climate change, especially in terms of technology, human resource training, and institutional and policy building in the energy transition process and implementing its international commitments on climate change response.
General Secretary and President To Lam (R) meets President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher, Paris, France, October 7, 2024 - Photo: VNA
Yael Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher, for their parts, emphasized the need to continue bolstering bilateral and multilateral cooperation across all channels, including parliamentary collaboration.
They hailed Viet Nam's initiatives in the transition to sustainable fisheries, particularly its efforts to persuade the EC's removal of the "yellow card" warning over illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
As a partner of Viet Nam within the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), France is committed to continuing to support the Southeast Asian nation's climate adaptation efforts, especially in terms of finance, technology, human resources training, and policy making, they added.
The two sides will promote cooperation and delegation exchanges between the two parliaments to share experience and improve the efficiency of the legislative bodies' operations, while coordinating and supporting each other at regional and international inter-parliamentary forums.
They shared the view that cooperation between localities is typical in the Viet Nam-France relationship, contributing to enhancing their people-to-people and cultural exchanges. They spoke highly of the 12th Viet Nam-France decentralization conference in Ha Noi in April 2023.
They agreed to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese and French people living, studying, and working in each other's countries to integrate into the host societies and contribute to socio-economic development as well as cultural diversity of both nations.
Regarding regional issues, the leaders emphasized the need to ensure peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and aviation, and to settle disputes by peaceful measures and in line with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).
Yael Braun-Pivet took the occasion to convey her invitation to NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man to attend the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF) in July 2025./.
