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Former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency |
Thang, who has more than 30 years of close connections with France and Europe, said Viet Nam–France relations have been built on a firm foundation of historical ties, mutual respect and increasingly extensive cooperation.
Thang said Viet Nam and France have gradually built a broad and multifaceted relationship since establishing diplomatic relations in 1973.
France supported Viet Nam’s reform and international integration, while the relationship was elevated to a strategic partnership in 2013. Cooperation has subsequently expanded across trade, investment, culture, healthcare and education, involving central and local authorities, businesses and socio-economic organizations.
A major turning point came in 2024, when the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership during General Secretary and President To Lam’s visit to France, making France the first Western European country to establish the highest-level partnership with Viet Nam.
The former ambassador highlighted a series of high-level visits and exchanges as important milestones, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visits to France in 2021 and 2025, and French President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Viet Nam in 2025.
The implementation of high-level agreements and political decisions has been translated into concrete programs and projects by ministries, sectors, localities and businesses. Meanwhile, people's organizations and successive generations of Vietnamese diplomatic representatives in France have helped consolidate the social foundations of the relationship.
Assessing the significance of General Secretary and President To Lam’s upcoming visit, Thang said high-level visits have consistently served as important catalysts for bilateral cooperation.
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established in 2024 has generated strong enthusiasm but also placed greater requirements on both sides to translate the new framework into practical results. With the new vision in place, the priority is now to build the substance of the partnership through concrete cooperation.
He regarded the upcoming visit as particularly significant because it will combine bilateral diplomacy with multilateral engagement, as during the 2024 visit.
On the bilateral front, the visit will reaffirm the two sides’ determination and political will to deepen relations, while providing an opportunity to review existing cooperation, commitments and joint projects and identify new orientations. It will therefore help give concrete shape to the vision agreed in 2024.
On the multilateral front, the former ambassador attached particular importance to the International Space Summit in Paris, noting that space technology has already been an area of cooperation between Viet Nam and France, including satellite and remote-sensing research and applications in agriculture, fisheries, climate-change response, and natural-resource and environmental management.
As Viet Nam seeks to develop capabilities in strategic technologies, the summit will provide an opportunity to deepen collaboration with France and other potential partners, while demonstrating Viet Nam’s readiness to participate in international cooperation in a field of growing importance to development and security.
Looking ahead, Thang said the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is being developed against the backdrop of new domestic requirements in both countries and a rapidly changing international environment.
He identified a wide range of areas with potential for stronger cooperation, including energy security, clean and renewable energy, modern infrastructure and railways, particularly urban rail systems, space technology, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, green and digital technologies, and participation in and protection of critical value chains and supply chains.
The two countries should also make better use of their long-standing cooperation in education and research to meet growing demand for high-quality human resources and innovation.
At the multilateral level, Viet Nam and France should continue supporting each other in broader international cooperation, including helping Viet Nam deepen relations with the European Union and France strengthen its engagement with ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific, he suggested.
The former ambassador also called for closer coordination in addressing global challenges, particularly climate change, while jointly contributing to peace and respect for international law in different regions, including the East Sea.
Against this backdrop, Thang expressed confidence that General Secretary and President To Lam’s visit will reaffirm the political determination underpinning Viet Nam–France relations while creating fresh momentum to translate the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership into substantive and mutually beneficial cooperation across a wide range of fields.
Source: VNA