PM expects France to facilitate Vietnam's agricultural and fishery products
VOV.VN - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked France to offer optimal conditions for Vietnamese goods, especially agricultural and fishery ones to enter the French market during a reception for French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad Olivier Becht on March 1 in Hanoi.
The Vietnamese Government leader expressed his wish that both sides continue to work hand in hand to optimize opportunities created by the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to enhance bilateral trade.
He also urged France to early adopt the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) so as to facilitate equal and mutually benefiting investment ties between Vietnam and France.
PM Chinh suggested France push for the early removal of the EC’s IUU “yellow card” against Vietnamese fishery products, in order to benefit French and EU consumers and ensuring livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of labourers in Vietnam’s fishery industry.
In response, Minister Becht highlighted economic-investment-trade cooperation as the pillar of the France-Vietnam strategic partnership. He affirmed that French businesses have great interest in investment in Vietnam, and desire to speed up the implementation of key economic cooperation projects of the two countries, including the Nhon-Hanoi Station urban railway route in Hanoi.
The two sides acknowledged the tremendous achievements in their cooperation, particularly the strong growth of bilateral trade, which grew 10% on- year to reach US$5.3 billion in 2022.
Noting the great potential of bilateral economic cooperation, the French minister pledged to further promote collaboration with Vietnam in fields of France’s strength such as climate change response, urban transport infrastructure, health care, energy, aviation and e-government.
Becht appreciated the role of the Vietnamese community in France, which he regards as an important bridge connecting the two countries. He affirmed that the French Government will continue to create favourable conditions for the community.
Host and guest compared notes on the situation in the East Sea and underscored the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the sea. They also emphasized the significance of settling disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).