He laid a wreath at President Ho Chi Minh Statue in Montereuil and visited the city’s museum, which exhibits memorabilia from the late President’s stay in France in the early 20^th century.

Montereuil City has been working on a project with Vietnam’s Hai Duong province to train personnel for Mali, and has been praised by the West African country for its high success rate.

At a reception, the Deputy Mayor of the city assured Mr Trong that Montereuil will preserve President Ho’s memorabilia and that it will continue to develop projects with other Vietnamese localities.  

For his part, Mr Trong stressed that the erection of President Ho’s statue in Montereuil City acknowledges his great contributions to the struggle for liberation of oppressed people around the world, but also to strengthening the friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and France.

He praised the effective tripartite model in agricultural production between Montereuil, Mali and Vietnam and said the Vietnam National Assembly supports the Government in implementing other similar models of joint projects. 

Later, Mr Trong met with Thierry Mariani, Secretary in charge of foreign affairs of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) – France’s ruling political party – and Mr Voslin, president of the France-Vietnam friendship parliamentarian group.

Mr Trong affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to developing special ties with the European Union (EU), including France as a key EU member. He noted that Vietnam and France are active members of the Francophonie Community, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) and many other international organisations. His visit aims to strengthen the ties of traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation in the 21^st century.

Mr Trong briefed his hosts on Vietnam’s socio-economic situation and its relations with France, noting that two-way trade has increased significantly in recent times, reaching more than US$2 billion in 2007. Currently, France is one of Vietnam’s biggest trading partners and one of the seven biggest foreign investors in the Southeast Asian nation.  He expressed hope that France will soon look at projects to build an underground railway system and restore the centennial Long Bien bridge in Hanoi.

The French officials said that they will encourage more French investors to explore and seek out business opportunities in Vietnam.

In the evening, Mr Trong met with officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris and representatives of the overseas Vietnamese community in France, which numbers around 300,000.