The agreement was reached during a working session in Paris between Senior Lieutenant General Le Tan Toi, chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly's Committee for National Defence, Security and Foreign Affairs, and Jean-Michel Jacques, chairman of the French National Assembly's Committee of National Defence and Armed Forces, as part of the Vietnamese delegation’s working visit to France on July 10-11.

The two sides discussed ways to increase parliamentary exchanges and cooperation in areas of mutual strategic interest.

Toi welcomed the opportunity to meet his French counterpart again just over a month after the French parliamentary delegation's visit to Vietnam. He said the regular exchange of high-level committee visits reflected the strong political commitment of both countries to deepening substantive parliamentary cooperation.

Highlighting the positive momentum in bilateral ties since the elevation of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Toi noted that France is Vietnam’s first Comprehensive Strategic Partner within the European Union (EU) and one of its leading partners in Europe.

In addition to the traditional pillars of economic, trade and investment cooperation, he said both countries have significant potential to expand collaboration in strategic infrastructure, science and technology, defence industry, energy, high-tech agriculture, and education and training.

To translate the partnership into concrete outcomes, the Vietnamese side proposed increasing exchanges between the two parliamentary committees, promoting the sharing of legislative and oversight experience in defence and security, defence industry, dual-use technologies, maritime security, cybersecurity, protection of critical infrastructure, crisis management and responses to non-traditional security challenges.

Toi also called for closer cooperation in areas where France has strong expertise and Vietnam has growing demand, including maritime security, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, aviation, space technology, the marine economy and dual-use technologies.

He expressed hope that France would continue supporting Vietnam through human resource training, knowledge transfer and stronger links between businesses and research institutions to implement practical cooperation programmes.

Regarding Vietnam–EU relations, the Vietnamese side urged French lawmakers to continue supporting the effective implementation of the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), promote the early ratification by the French Parliament of the EU–Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and advocate for the European Commission to lift its ‘yellow card’ warning on Vietnamese seafood by recognising Vietnam's efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

For his part, Jacques said that following his recent visit to Vietnam, he had sent a letter to France's Minister of Agriculture, Agri-Food, and Food Sovereignty, calling on relevant French and EU authorities to support the process of reviewing the removal of the IUU yellow card imposed on Vietnamese seafood.

He also expressed support for an initiative to establish a sister-city relationship between Dien Bien Phu and Caen, promoting cooperation between the Dien Bien Phu Victory Museum and the Caen Memorial Museum as a means of strengthening people-to-people exchanges and cultural cooperation between the two countries.

At the conclusion of the meeting, both sides agreed to maintain regular exchanges between the two parliamentary committees and enhance coordination in areas of shared interest, contributing to closer cooperation between the two legislatures and the effective implementation of the Vietnam–France Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Vietnam and France step up implementation of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

VOV.VN - Vietnam and France will accelerate the implementation of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership by advancing concrete cooperation projects in strategic sectors, including civil nuclear energy, major infrastructure, science and technology, innovation and economic cooperation.