Paris (VNA) – Party General Secretary and State President To Lam had a meeting with President of the French National Assembly (NA) Yael Braun-Pivet in Paris on October 7, part of his official visit to the European country.

Congratulating his host on her re-election as President of the French NA, the Vietnamese leader conveyed Chairman of the Vietnamese NA Tran Thanh Man’s invitation to Braun-Pivet to visit Vietnam in the near future. He also congratulated France on the successful organisation of the Francophonie Summit with many practical outcomes, helping enhance economic cooperation within the Francophone community.

Lam asked the two sides to increase mutual visits at all levels, especially high level, between their parties, states, governments, and parliaments to create momentum for further intensifying all-round collaboration. He suggested France soon re-establish the Vietnam - France Parliamentary Friendship Group so that the group can continue helping to bring the two countries’ parliaments and people closer together.

Yael Braun-Pivet highly valued the Vietnamese leader's engagements with France's high-ranking leaders to identify major directions to advance relations between the two nations.

She said she admires Vietnam’s remarkable socio-economic achievements in recent years, especially its efforts to balance socio-economic development and environmental protection, contributing to the well-being of its citizens.

She also praised Vietnam's role as ASEAN Chair in 2020, noting its significant contributions to strengthening ties between the EU and ASEAN, as well as enhancing cooperation between the parliaments of the two blocs' member countries.

She emphasised the need to continue bolstering bilateral and multilateral cooperation across all channels, including parliamentary collaboration.
The two leaders affirmed to always attach importance to and further deepen the strategic partnership and agreed to bring the Vietnam-France strategic partnership to a new height. The two sides will promote cooperation and delegation exchanges between the two parliaments to share experience and improve the efficiency of the legislative bodies’ operations, while coordinating and supporting each other at regional and international inter-parliamentary forums.

Regarding economy, trade and investment ties, Lam commended France for being Vietnam's fourth-largest trade partner and the second-largest investor in the EU, as well as the leading European country in providing official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam. He urged the French National Assembly to expedite the ratification of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to facilitate investments from both countries and the EU.

He also called on the French parliament to advocate for the European Commission (EC)’s prompt lifting of its "yellow card" warning against Vietnamese seafood to ensure the livelihoods of thousands of Vietnamese fishermen and meet the needs of French consumers.

Taking into account the Vietnamese leader's suggestions, Braun-Pivet highly valued Vietnam's initiatives in the transition to sustainable fisheries, particularly its efforts to persuade the EU’s removal of the “yellow card” warning over illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

As a partner of Vietnam within the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), France is committed to continuing to support the Southeast Asian nation’s climate adaptation efforts, especially in terms of finance, technology, human resources training, and policy making, France’s top legislator said.

The two sides shared the view that cooperation between localities is typical in the Vietnam-France relationship, contributing to enhancing their people-to-people and cultural exchanges. They spoke of the 12th Vietnam-France decentralisation conference in Hanoi in April 2023.

They agreed to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese and French people living, studying, and working in each other's countries to integrate into the host societies and contribute to socio-economic development as well as cultural diversity of both nations.

Regarding regional issues, the leaders emphasised the need to ensure peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight, and to settle disputes by peaceful measures and in line with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

♋ On this occasion, Yael Braun-Pivet asked Lam to convey her invitation to NA Chairman Tran Thanh Man to attend the General Assembly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophonie (APF) in July 2025./.