Vietnamese Party chief holds phone talks with French President

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong held high-level phone talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on October 20 as the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership this year.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong (middle) in the phone talks

Trong hailed the success of the French Government and President Macron in conducting reforms in various socio-economic sectors to help France develop stronger and enhance its role in strengthening the European Union, contributing to dealing with challenges faced by Europe and other regions across the world.

On the occasion, the Party leader thanked France for supporting Vietnam over the past years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He informed the French President about Vietnam’s outstanding and comprehensive achievements after over 35 years of renewal and post-pandemic economic recovery, as well as the Southeast Asian country's development goals by the middle of the 21st century and its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, and multilateralisation and diversification of relations.

The General Secretary highlighted the importance of peace, friendship, cooperation and compliance with the principles of international law and the United Nations Charter in addressing international issues, including ensuring peace and security in the East Sea.

The Vietnamese leader affirmed that both sides have actively realised the contents of the Joint Statement reached by leaders of the two nations during his visit to France in 2018.

Vietnam attaches great importance to and gives a high priority to the Vietnam-France strategic partnership, and supports France's initiatives for peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world, he said.

The two leaders discussed major directions and measures to expand and improve the efficiency of the bilateral cooperation.

Macron, for his part, affirmed that France treasures Vietnam’s international role and position and its strategic partnership with the Southeast Asian nation. He underlined France's commitment to accompany Vietnam in implementing the country's strategic development goals.

He said the phone talks provided an important occasion for the two leaders to discuss the strategic orientations to develop the bilateral relations in the next two decades.

The French President agreed that both countries need to continue strengthening political trust and people-to-people exchange, and promoting strong changes in cooperation in different fields such as national defence-security, economy, trade, investment, aviation, energy transition, sci-tech, culture and technology.

He expressed his support for Vietnam's increased collaboration with the EU, including the implementation of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and cooperation in seafood fishing. He wished that both countries would work more closely together in multilateral frameworks, especially the Francophone community.

Both leaders promised to instruct relevant agencies to actively realise the agreed contents. Trong took this occasion to reiterate his invitation to the French President to visit Vietnam, and the latter accepted it with pleasure./.

VNA