Opening Ceremony of the French Year in Vietnam

 

The programme Vietnam – France year has started in Vietnam (French season in Vietnam) and will last until mid-2014 (Vietnam season in France). The program was marked by a series of events held all over some fields including exchange of economic, culture, arts, education, higher education and research, defense, tourism, sports as well as other fields of architecture, fashion and design. The events France - Vietnam year 2013 and Vietnam - France year 2014 are organised on a large scale, with each country's ambitions to discover more of each other, reflecting the contemporary aspects of the most innovative and to promote exchanges between the two countries.

 

Speaking at the ceremony, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh said that 40 years ago, Vietnam and France officially established diplomatic relations. This is a milestone, marking a new chapter in relations between the two countries, expressing the aspirations of the two peoples together through the ups and downs of history to jointly cultivate a friendly relationship and comprehensive cooperation, long-term, based on a solid foundation which is the aged connection on the history, culture and language between the two nations.

 

Since then, the Vietnam – France relations have been growing dynamically and comprehensively in all fields. Currently, France has become a leading Europe's economic partners of Vietnam. The efficient support of France in the field of development cooperation has contributed positively to poverty alleviation, socio-economic development and sustainable development of Vietnam in recent years. The visit to Vietnam of the Foreign Trade Minister to co-chair the annual high-level dialogue on economic of Vietnam and France is a testament to the strong growth, at the same time bringing new cooperation prospects between the two countries in the areas of trade and investment.

 

According to Mr Hoang Tuan Anh, Vietnam and France share a common vision of the modern world, and strive for peace, justice and charity, cooperation and development. The similarity is displayed clearly by the both parties through the results of numerous mutual visits by leaders of the two countries in the bilateral dialogue mechanism on political, economic, defense - security, cooperation between the local, as well as in the effective cooperation between the two institutions, and regional forums such as the United Nations International, within the framework of the EU-ASEAN, ASEM and the International Francophone Organisation.

 

The partnership between the two countries is increasingly linked through cooperative education and culture, expressed through the more than 7,000 students and graduate students in Vietnam attending university lectures in France, and this number has increased by an average 30 percent / year over the past decade, bringing Vietnam to become the Asian community ranked second in the French universities. It includes the importance of the project of the world-class University of Science-Technology of Hanoi which has been implemented, a project that both sides put a lot of expectations to contribute to training high-quality human resources for the process of industrialization and modernization in Vietnam.

 

Besides, cultural and art exchanges between Vietnam and France also increasingly diverse, mounting the hallmark of French culture with special features traditional culture of Vietnam, contributing to enhancing people's understanding the two countries.

 

Over the decades, generations of Vietnam and France selected and kept the essence of the relationship between the two countries to overcome the "common memories" of history, bringing the relationship between Vietnam and France to become the represented relationship between the two countries in Asia and Europe. At the same time, with a common vision towards the future, the relationship is moving to a new page with the leaders of the two countries' determination to raise bilateral relations to strategic partnership level in the year Vietnam - France, creating new opportunities for the two countries to promote good achievement, striving for the same goal two countries towards the development cooperation for the benefit of the two peoples, for peace, stability in region and the world.

 

At the opening ceremony, many French visual artists performed with culinary topics. Dorothée SELZ, a sculptor and an artist made a colourful cuisine sculpture; Laurent Moriceau made dipped cakes from “the colored shape” and guests had the opportunity to enjoy “hanging buffet party” on hundreds of balls made by the group “La cellule”.