Vietnam Party Chief Manh Meets French President Chirac

Vietnam Party Chief Manh Meets French President Chirac

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nong Duc Manh talked with French President Jacques Chirac at the second day of his trip to the foreign country, which started on June 6. 

During their meeting yesterday in Paris, both leaders agreed that the two countries should further promote their relations particularly in establishing bilateral economic ties. Vietnam and France need to jointly establish a high-level council on economic cooperation and development, which will study cooperation opportunities in the fields of transport, energy and airplane manufacturing, they said.  

They also pledged to broaden direct cooperation between localities of the two countries and form tripartite and quadruple co-operation between Vietnam, France, an African country and international organizations.

They added that the two countries would maintain regular exchanges of high-ranking visits while boosting contacts at lower levels. How to increase the efficiency of the existing dialogue mechanism and boost the coordination of actions at multilateral forums for peace and development, especially the United Nations, the Asia-Europe Meeting, and the Francophone Community, were high on their meeting's agenda.

At the talk, President Chirac also confirmed to Manh that France fully supports Vietnam in its joining of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Earlier on the same day, Manh and other senior officials of Vietnam visited the headquarters of the French Business Confederation and attended the France-Vietnam Business Forum.

Talking with participating French and Vietnamese entrepreneurs, the leader noted French enterprises are getting involved in almost all important economic sectors and making active contributions to socio-economic development in Vietnam. Vietnam gives priorities to its cooperation with France and welcomes French businessmen, he pledged.

Today, the Vietnamese delegation visited the Lille City of Nord Pas de Calais region. Manh will meet some senior officials of the French government this afternoon and tomorrow morning before he leaves for Hanoi.

This is the second trip of Manh to France. He went to the foreign country ten years ago when he was Chairman of the Vietnam National Assembly.

To date, France has invested US$2.15 billion in 147 projects in Vietnam, ranking as the 7^th biggest investor in the Southeast Asian country, according to the latest statistics of the Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The two countries posted bilateral trade turnover of US$1.17 billion last year, of which Vietnam exported nearly US$560 million to France.  

France pledged EUR334 million of ODA to Vietnam last year, a rise from EUR95 million in 2001, ranking as the fourth largest donor to the Southeast Asian country.

The number of French tourists to Vietnam increased by 39.4 per cent on-year to 57,100 in the first five months of this year.