Mr. Luu said he is delighted to see bilateral relations between Vietnam and France are strengthening substantially in various fields such as economics, investment, trade, culture, and education.

Two-way trade turnover reached more than US$2 billion last year, up 23 percent over 2009, in which Vietnam’s export earnings to France hit nearly US$1.1 billion, an increase of 35.4 percent from 2009 figures.

France ranks second among European nations and 15^th among 92 nations and territories investing in Vietnam with 309 valid projects.

Regarding France’s support and assistance for Vietnam in recent years, Mr. Luu said the European country’s ODA for Vietnam is being used effectively in top priority areas such as poverty reduction, healthcare, education, and administrative reform thus helping Vietnam to successfully implement its socio-economic development policies.

Poitou-Charentes has maintained close relations with Thua Thien Hue, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.

The NA Vice Chairman said he hopes Mrs. Segolene Royal will continue to support stronger development of cooperative relations between Poitou-Charentes and other Vietnamese localities, pay more attention to promoting cooperation in French language teaching and to higher education and postgraduate education training in Vietnam.

Mr. Luu also expressed his hope that cooperative relations between the two legislative bodies will continue to be further developed in various forms such as exchanging visits of high-level delegations and members of parliament, sharing experiences in legislation and supervision, and accelerating the implementation of the signed cooperative agreements.

For her part, Mrs. Segolene Royal praised Vietnam’s achievements in socio-economic development while saying that her country is keen to boost cooperation with Vietnam in economics, culture and energy, especially the use of solar energy.