VOV.VN - National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan hosted a reception in Hanoi on September 20 for Senator Catherine Deroche, President of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group (FVFPG) of the Senate of France.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (R) hosts Senator Catherine
Deroche, President of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group (FVFPG)
of the Senate of France.

The Vietnamese NA leader applauded the contributions by the Senate of France, the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Groups of the Lower House and the Senate of France to fostering the relations between the two legislative bodies as well as the two nations.

Vietnam is keen to expand the bilateral ties across multiple fields and at all levels, she told her guest.

The top Vietnamese legislator emphasized that the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Investment Protection Agreement (IPA) in June this year will open up plenty of new opportunities for stronger cooperation between Vietnam and Europe in general and between Vietnam and France in particular.

She asked the Senate of France to provide its continued support for and urge the European Parliament and member countries of the EU to approve the two agreements soon.

Ngan underscored the effective and practical cooperation in health care and culture between the two nations while hoping her hope that France will continue to offer favourable conditions for and support French teaching projects in Vietnam.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the NA Chairwoman praised the stance of supporting freedom, security and safety of navigation and aviation in the sea, and asked France to continue supporting Vietnam's stance in settling disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and legitimate rights and interests of the countries in the East Sea.

Catherine, in turn, said that meetings in the framework of the Vietnamese NA high-ranking delegation’s visit to France in April this year contributed to augmenting all-around cooperation between the two sides.

She highlighted the cooperation potential between the two countries, saying that the FVFPG of the Senate of France has worked with delegations from the Vietnamese NA’s committees and shared experience in culture, finance and organization of local administrations.

The French senator said she also met with representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the two sides concurred to expand cooperation in higher education and youth exchange between Vietnam and France.

NA Chairwoman Ngan also used the occasion to ask her guest to convey her regards to President and Vice President of the Senate of France, expressing her desire to welcome French parliamentarians to attend the Conference on Vietnamese-French local cooperation in Hanoi in 2021.