PANO – A forum to promote Vietnamese and French defense industry cooperation, was co-held yesterday in Hanoi by the General Department of Defense Industry (GDDI) under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and General Directorate for Armament (DGA) under the French Defense Ministry.

Present at the forum were Major General Doan Hung Minh - Deputy Director of the GDDI, Lieutenant General J. Cousquer - Director for Asia, America and Africa at the General Directorate for Armament (DGA) of France, and representatives from the two countries’ defense ministry.

At the forum

The forum took place amidst major progress of the Vietnam-France relationship following the official visit to Vietnam by French President Francois Hollande in September, this year and by French Defense Minister Le Drian; and the first Vietnam-France Defense Policy Dialogue earlier this month in Paris.

Speaking at the event, Maj. Gen. Minh affirmed Vietnam’s wish to expand defense industry cooperation with partner countries worldwide, contributing to peace, stability and development. Vietnam will give priority to boosting bilateral cooperation with France, especially in technology transfer, weapons and equipment production and repairs for national defense, human resources training, and management experience exchange on defense industry.

For his part, Lt. Gen. J. Cousquer stressed that defense cooperation, including defense industry, is a pillar of the Vietnam-France strategic partnership. Earlier, in 2014, the defense ministries of the two countries held a seminar for their maritime security businesses. "France is willing to support, and share experiences with Vietnam in the defense-security, including issues related to global security, defense industry and marine security," said Lt. Gen. J. Cousquer.

On the sidelines of the forum, Vietnamese and French businesses also had an opportunity to share issues of mutual concern and discuss cooperation directions in the coming time.

Translated by Hong Thanh