France's Corsica island interested in boosting ties with Vietnam
Corsica, an island in the southeast of France, wishes to promote cooperation with Vietnam in the time to come, said Alexandre Vinciguerra, a member of the Executive Council of Corsica and President of the Corsica Development Agency at an October 23 working session with Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang.
Thang is on his working trip to Corsica from October 23-25.
At the meeting, Vinciguerra briefed the guest on local economic development with the key sectors being tourism and renewable energy. He said his island is moving towards a knowledge-based economy through opening more universities, welcoming Vietnamese businesses to explore trade and investment cooperation opportunities.
For his part, Thang highlighted long-lasting cooperation between localities of Vietnam and France, saying the two countries have just successfully organised the 12th Vietnam-France Decentralised cooperation conference.
According to the ambassador, ample room remains for Vietnam and Corsica to develop cooperative relations in such fields as tourism, culture and sustainable development, adding that the French island can play an active role in the locality-to-locality cooperation model.
The same day, Thang had a working session with Stéphane Sbraggia, mayor of Ajaccio city of Corsica on establishing relationships between Ajaccio and Vietnamese localities as well as potential areas of cooperation between the two sides.
Sbraggia said that the Vietnamese diplomat's visit to Corsica in general and Ajaccio in particular offers a good opportunity to promote cultural dialogue and explore opportunities for cooperation in trade and tourism.
For his part, the ambassador affirmed that the image of the beautiful island of Corsica has long been known to many Vietnamese people. He also thanked I Scemi Astutti (Association of Friends) of Corsica for promoting the visit, which has played an important role in strengthening relations between Vietnam and France, including Corsica.
