Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai has affirmed that Vietnam always highly values France’s role and position in its foreign policy and will do its best to foster bilateral ties in the near future.

Secretary of the Hanoi municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai (R)
presents a Friendship Order to French Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary
(Photo: VNA) 

Speaking at a ceremony recently held in Paris to celebrate Vietnam’s 74th National Day, Hai, who is also a Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam, hailed ties between Hanoi and France’s Ile de France region as a model, which was also acknowledged by French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe during his visit to Vietnam in November 2018.

 Thanks to joint work over the past three decades, Hanoi has reaped impressive achievements in urban planning and management, preservation of its Old Quarter and handicraft development.

 Hai said the two localities will soon launch projects on start-up incubators, air pollution prevention and climate change adaptation.

 On behalf of the State President, the Hanoi leader presented a Friendship Order to French Ambassador Bertrand Lortholary in recognition of his contributions to Vietnam-France strategic partnership during his tenure in Vietnam from 2016-2019.

 Lortholary, for his part, said the year 2018 marked the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the fifth anniversary of the strategic partnership, during which mutual visits by Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in March and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe in November laid the foundation for bilateral exchanges and cooperation and paved the way for effective projects.

 He said the France visit by Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and a cooperation conference between Vietnamese and French localities in April 2019 were further efforts to lift bilateral ties to a new height.

 Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep also took the occasion to present awards to three French journalists and photographers within the framework of the national competition of foreign press works about Vietnam 2018.

 The competition attracted 1,000 authors with entries written in 13 foreign languages. The organising board chose the top 90 entries, including eight first, 17 second, 25 third and 10 consolation prizes.

 Thiep spoke highly of entries by the three French journalists and photographers, including two second and one third prizes.

 On September 16, the Vietnamese embassy in Slovakia held a ceremony to celebrate the 74th anniversary of Vietnam’s National Day, with over 200 guests taking part.

 Earlier, the embassy and the Czech Republic’s Eleutheria Foundation opened an exhibition on Vietnamese propaganda paintings during 1945 – 2000, which will last till September 22.