Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives Olivier Becht, French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad. Photo: VGP

At a meeting in Hanoi with Olivier Becht, French Minister for Foreign Trade, Attractiveness and French Nationals Abroad, who is on a visit to Vietnam, the Prime Minister said he hopes that the two sides will continue to cooperate closely and take advantage of EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement to boost bilateral trade.

He also suggested that France soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement to facilitate equal and mutually beneficial investment relations between the two countries.

PM Chinh urged France to push for the early removal of the EC’s IUU yellow card against Vietnamese seafood products, to meet the interests of French and EU consumers, and ensure the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers in the Vietnamese fishery industry.

Minister Becht said that he would continue to promote France-Vietnam cooperation in areas where France has strengths such as climate change response, urban transport infrastructure, health care, energy, aviation, and e-government. He added that the French Government will continue to create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live and work in France.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Minister Olivier Becht shared their views on the East Sea situation, emphasizing the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea. Disputes should be settled by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), they said.