The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organizations (HUFO) hosted a meeting on July 13 to mark the 231st anniversary of French National Day (July 14) and improving friendly relations between the two countries.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, president of the France-Vietnam Friendship Association
in Ho Chi Minh City speaks at the event 

The event saw Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, president of the France-Vietnam Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City, emphasise that the group has deployed a range of friendly and people-to-people exchanges in recent years, serving to strengthen and develop the strategic partnership that exists between the pair.

Amid complicated developments regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in France, the France-Vietnam Friendship Association’s Central Committee has so far donated 51,000 medical masks.

In addition, the France-Vietnam Friendship Association in Ho Chi Minh City has also presented a further 25,750 medical and anti-bacterial masks aimed at assisting French people in their battle against the ongoing pandemic.

The HUFO has therefore affirmed their willingness to co-operate alongside the Consulate General of France in Ho Chi Minh City and the French community in the southern city in an effort to organise a diverse range of schemes and events that can help to boost engagement between the two peoples and further enhance time-honoured relations.

Vincent Floreani, French Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City addresses the event

Vincent Floreani, French Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, extended his thanks to friends based in the southern city for hosting ceremonies aimed at celebrating the French National Day and highlighted the solidarity and friendship between the two countries which has been successfully manifested through the country's support to French citizens in their fight against the COVID-19.

Over the past three decade years, the France-Vietnam Friendship Association of Ho Chi Minh City has called for non-governmental organisations and foreign organisations to implement approximately 500 community development projects aimed at assisting disadvantaged people in 51 provinces and cities nationwide, with a total budget of over EUR2.5 million