Friendship Association focuses on promoting Vietnam's international integration

The Hanoi chapter held its sixth congress on August 24 for the 2022 to 2027 term.  The congress elected a 35-member Executive Committee for the new term, with the committee headed by Nguyen Lan Trung who was successfully re-elected to the position of chairman of the association

Moving into the new term, the association will strive to intensify friendship exchanges, develop members, and strengthen the activities of all branches.

Furthermore, efforts will be made to maintain existing programmes and external activities in the next term, with the Association continuing to serve as a bridge to find potential partners who are enterprises of the two countries with relations with France. This is in addition to building co-operation schemes, especially in the fields of start-ups, tourism, handicrafts, and agriculture, thereby helping to promote the capital’s economic and trade development.

The association has set the goal of effectively launching a broad array of events to mark special occasions, thereby outlining programmes and plans for activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and France.

As part of her speech, Tran Thi Phuong, vice president of the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organization, applauded the performance of the northern city's Vietnam - France Friendship Association in the 2017 to 2022 term. She especially focused on activities that have contributed to strengthening the friendly relations and people-to-people exchanges between the two nations.

Phuong went on to suggest that the Association should pay close attention to stepping up spreading relevant information through the mass media, thereby helping the two peoples deepen mutual understanding.

She underlined the necessity of enhancing exchanges and co-operation in the fields of economy, culture, education, and tourism in a bid to expand co-operative ties with people's organisations and friendship organisations in France as a way of bringing the joint strategic partnership to new heights.

Sophie Maysonnave, counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Activities of the French Embassy in Vietnam, highlighted the association as an important partner in terms of maintaining the unique relations between the two countries.

She also affirmed that the Central European country has always been attached to the French-speaking bloc, with this also being one of the reasons why Hanoi always holds an important position for France.

In the last term, the Hanoi chapter of the Vietnam - France Friendship Association promoted information and awareness for staff, branches, and members about people-to-people diplomacy, peace, and friendship.