Vietnam desires stronger parliamentary ties with France

Anh, who is also chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA)’s Committee for Social Affairs and President of the Vietnam-France Friendship and Cooperation Association, held meetings with Anne Le Henanff, president of the French Parliament's France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group, and Laurence Muller-Bronn, vice president of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group at the French Senate.

Showing her elation at the growth of ties between the two countries, especially since they set up their strategic partnership in 2013, Anh affirmed that the nation always treasures the relations with France and greatly values the role of the European country in the region and the world.

Applauding the contributions made by the two friendship parliamentarians’ groups to the bilateral legislative partnership, Anh expressed hope that French parliamentarians will continue to co-operate alongside their Vietnamese peers to further promote bilateral ties in 2024 and ahead in the following years.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang requested that the two friendship parliamentarians’ groups continue striving to push the French Parliament to approve the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) soon, while also contributing their voice to the European Commission to remove the "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese seafood.

French parliamentarians showed a special interest in the lawsuit of Tran To Nga, an overseas Vietnamese in France, against American chemicals companies that produced Agent Orange/dioxin sprayed in Vietnam during the war. They affirmed their support to Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims and pledged to support the Vietnamese side in areas of its demands.

In order to step up joint co-operation in health care, Anh and Thang held a working session with the France-Vietnam Medical Federation, hailing the contributions that French doctors have made to caring for the public health in the country and listening to their opinions.

During her stay, Anh also held a working session with leaders of the France-Vietnam Friendship Association (AAFV) to explore the French side’s ideas on enhancing the collaboration between the AAFV and the Vietnam-France Friendship and Cooperation Association. It is hoped that this will further contribute to intensifying people-to-people exchange as well as friendship and solidarity between the two peoples. The Vietnamese official used the occasion to thank the AAFV for its support given to Vietnam over the past 60 years.

As the chairwoman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophone (APF)'s Vietnam Sub-Committee, Anh had a working session with Damien Cesselin, secretary general of the APF, to discuss a number of co-operation contents of the Vietnamese NA in this multilateral mechanism.