The first Vietnam-France dialogue on security and defence strategy was held in Paris on September 18.

The event was jointly chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son; Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh; and French Minister of State for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean Baptiste Lemoyne.

The deputy ministerial-level dialogue took place in the context of celebrations for the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam-France bilateral diplomatic ties.

At the event, Jean Baptiste Lemoyne showed his pleasure at the positive growth in the partnership between the two countries since they set up their strategic partnership in 2013.

He agreed on the need to increase the exchange of delegations at all levels and effectively implement cooperation mechanisms, such as a dialogue on security and defence strategy, a dialogue on defence policies, and an annual high-level dialogue on economy.

He underlined that economic cooperation is a key pillar in the Vietnam-France strategic partnership, noting that the two countries have become an important trade partner to each other, with bilateral trade reaching to 4.6 billion USD in 2017.

Regarding defence collaboration, the two sides highly valued the delegation exchange between the defence ministries and militaries of both countries, and the visit to France by Vietnamese Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich.

They concurred to foster affiliation in personnel training, military medicine, hydrograph, the defence industry, and UN peacekeeping operations.

At the dialogue, the two sides also discussed regional and international issues of shared concern. They pledged to coordinate closely with each other at multilateral forums, while supporting initiatives and efforts to promote peace and stability in the region and the world.

The Vietnamese side affirmed that the country is ready to work with France in strengthening maritime security in the future. –VNA