The statement was made by Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan at the talks with President of the French National Assembly Richard Ferrand on April 1.
At the talks, the two sides agreed that sound political relations serve as a firm foundation for the two sides to promote the bilateral cooperation in other fields, particularly economic cooperation, which is seen as a priority in the strategic partnership of the two countries. Particularly, France is Vietnam’s third biggest investor with USD 2.8 billion and its fourth biggest European trade partner with USD 5.1 billion of the two-way bilateral trade turnover.
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NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (L) and President of the French National Assembly Richard Ferrand |
Vietnamese NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan highly appreciated France’s policy on enhancing economic cooperation with Vietnam. At present, there are more than 200 French businesses operating in Vietnam and in 2018, 215,000 French tourists went to Vietnam. She said that the bilateral trade and economic cooperation is not on par with the sound political relationship and the potentials of the two countries. She asked the two sides to create more favorable conditions for enterprises to enter each other’s market.
At the talks, the guest briefed the host on the outcomes of her earlier meeting with the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group and 15 major French businesses, saying that at the meeting the Vietnamese delegation shared information about Vietnam’s potential cooperation fields, and hoped that French investors would expand investment, trade and business cooperation with Vietnamese partners in the coming time.
Ngan named several successful French businesses in Vietnam, such as Air France and Safran – France’s leading aerospace and defense corporation. The two companies have signed a USD 6.5 billion maintenance and repair deal with Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Vietjet Air. On the occasion, Vietnam Airlines will receive an A350 aircraft, while Bamboo Airways is negotiating to purchase some aircraft. The above-mentioned achievements proved that French companies are confident in Vietnam’s market with its stable socio-economic development.
She added that Vietnam has signed 12 free trade agreements. Recently, the Vietnamese NA ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and is legalizing its commitments in the signed agreements to make them conform to international conventions and practices.
Highly appreciating France’s support for fostering Vietnam - European Union relations over the past time, the Vietnamese NA Chairwoman hoped that the country will further contribute to accelerating the signing and ratification of the European Union − Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), noting that this will benefit both Vietnam and European Union members, including France. She said that at present Vietnam and European Union are working on final procedures for the signing and ratification of the agreement.
On the occasion, she also asked the host to help Vietnam remove the EU’s “yellow card” warning against the country’s fisheries. She said that Vietnam is striving to implement the EU’s recommendations, and the Vietnamese NA has already ratified the revised Law on Fisheries with regulations in line with international law on the protection and conservation of aquatic resources. The law took effect on January 1, 2019.
The Vietnamese NA Chairwoman affirmed that the Vietnamese NA is ready to work with the French Parliament to foster Vietnam-France cooperation, contributing to cementing the sound friendship between the two nations.
Also at the talks, the two sides expressed delight at positive developments in relations between the law-making agencies of the two countries with an increase in visits of high-level leaders of the two countries.
For his part, France’s National Assembly President Richard Farrand highly appreciated the position and role of Vietnam in the region and ASEAN, and applauded cooperation models between localities of the two countries. As a MP from Brest city which set up cooperation ties with Vietnam’s Hai Phong city, Mr. Richard Farrand showed his support for this cooperation model.
Regarding EVFTA, France in general and the Parliament of France in particular support the early signing and ratification of the agreement, saying that the two sides should make more efforts to speed up the process.
He congratulated Vietnam’s and France’s businesses operating in the civil aviation sector on their good outcomes of cooperation under the signed deals.
At the talks, Mr. Richard Farrand accepted Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan’s invitation to visit Vietnam and affirmed that the French Parliament always wishes to welcome Vietnamese NA delegations to France.
Translated by Tran Hoai