France pledges assistance to Vietnam’s climate action plan
France will accompany and assist Vietnam in implementing the Political Declaration on the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) of which both are members.
French President Emmanuel Macron was speaking at a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Dubai on December 2, on the sidelines of the COP28 World Climate Change Action Summit.
Macron spoke highly of the two countries’ cooperation potential and said the two sides need to coordinate more effectively and comprehensively in all areas.
He said he would send a number of French ministers to visit Vietnam to promote specific cooperation activities, especially in economy, trade and investment. He also revealed that the French Government has worked out a roadmap to ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) ahead of his coming visit to Vietnam.
Macron underlined the importance of cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, saying France would continue to help Vietnam preserve cultural and historical sites.
For his part, Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the positive development of the Vietnam - France strategic partnership, in the context of the two countries celebrating 50 years of their diplomatic relations (1973-2023) and 10 years of their Strategic Partnership (2013-2023). He respectfully conveyed the best regards of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong and their invitation to visit Vietnam to the French President.
He proposed that the two sides effectively conctitise the outcome of the phone talks in October 2023 between Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Emmanuel Macron, especially in increasing visit exchanges, promoting cooperation in security-defense, economy, trade, investment, science-technology, education-training, innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, culture and people-to-people exchanges.
He also asked France to speed up the process of ratifying the EVIPA.
The two sides agreed to continue to cooperate closely at multilateral forums and exchange positions on international issues of mutual concern.
