Vietnam seeks stronger partnership with France’s Nouvelle-Aquitaine region
A working group from the Vietnamese Embassy in France led by Ambassador Dinh Toan Thang paid a working trip to Bordeaux, the capital city of France’s southwest region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, from May 30 to June 1.
During the visit, Ambassador Thang had meetings with Prefect of Nouvelle Aquitaine region Etienne Guyot and President of the region Alain Rousset, and attended a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of twinning relations between the region and Lao Cai province of Vietnam – a typical decentralised cooperation model of Vietnam and France.
At the meetings, leaders of the region showed their impression at the close friendship between the two peoples after ups and downs of the history, as well as the development achievements of Vietnam, and highly valued the fruitful cooperation model between Lao Cai and Nouvelle Aquitaine region.
Rousset highlighted strengths and potentials of the region in re-industrialisation and innovation to bring opportunities to both countries in the spirit of cooperation and shared success.
Chairman the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Nouvelle Aquitaine Jean-François Clédel introduced the investment and business opportunities of the region. In addition to its strengths in agriculture and wine production, the region, which ranks third out of the 15 of France in terms of production capacity and second in investment in research and development, is also strong in aerospace, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, cruise shipbuilding and ceramics production, he said.
During their stay, the group had a working session with Hydrogene de France SA (HDF Energy), a pioneering enterprise in developing and building high-capacity power plants from stable renewable energy sources (Renewstable®) and hydrogen gas sources (Hypower®) in many countries around the world. HDF Energy is also a fuel cell manufacturer, exclusively owning the technology to create high capacity storage batteries ( 1MW). The firm opened a representative office in Vietnam in March 2022 and signed a cooperation deal with Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) in developing power projects using Renewstable® technology and hydrogen gas sources using Hypower® technology in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific.
They also visited Bordeaux Montaigne University, one of the five major research and training facilities in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, and the Centre for the Study of Foreign Languages, French and Francophone (CLEFF), which is providing training programme for more than 20 languages, including Vietnamese. Antoine Ertlé, Director of the centre, said that in the coming time, CLEFF aims to develop the Vietnamese language department with classes in a mixed model, including both face-to-face and online teaching to meet the increasing demand in research and application of Vietnamese language and Vietnamese culture.
On the occasion, Ambassador Thang also worked with a delegation from Lao Cai province, which was on a working trip to the French region, during which the diplomat affirmed his willingness to support Lao Cai in implementing its cooperation programme with Nouvelle Aquitaine in the time to come. He also had a meeting with the Vietnamese community in Bordeaux.
French partners showed their optimism about the cooperation potential between Nouvelle-Aquitaine region as well as Bordeaux with Vietnamese localities.
The president of the region showed his interest in the prospect of cooperation Lao Cai in growing and producing medicines from medicinal plants, while the CCI Chairman recognised the bilateral cooperation potential in agricultural development and recycled energy, and CLEFF Director wanted to find partners in Vietnam for student exchange programmes.
