French president to visit Vietnam before ASEM 5
HANOI - French President Jacques Chirac will pay his second official visit to Vietnam on Oct. 6 before attending the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 5) on Oct. 7-8 according to diplomatic sources on Friday.
The French president will discuss with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Duc Luong about a number of issues, some of whichwill be relevant to those touched by them during Luong's officialvisit to France in 2002, including measures to beef up bilateral and multilateral ties, and French's support for Vietnam's entry to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Security Council as a non-standing member in the 2008-2009.
During Chirac's visit, Vietnam and China will sign some 16 documents, mostly involving projects on education and infrastructure, an official from the French Embassy in Hanoi said on condition of anonymity, noting that the French president will be accompanied by around 20 businesses. Among the projects, some involve the establishment of a French language university and an archives system, the construction of a metro route in the capital of Hanoi, the upgrading of urban lighting systems in Ho Chi Minh City, the official added.
France is now Vietnam's leading partner in terms of development cooperation and many socioeconomic fields, including trade, investment, health, education and tourism. During his talkswith Chirac in France in October 2002, Luong said that Vietnam wanted closer economic ties with France, especially in the fields of transport, telecommunications, electricity, food processing andpharmaceutics. With annual commitment of 130 million US dollars worth of official development assistance (ODA), France is the leading ODA provider among European countries to Vietnam. By late last month, it had ranked the 7th among foreign investors in Vietnam with 139 projects totaling over 2.1 billion dollars.
Chirac made his first official visit to Vietnam in November 1997. After attending the ASEM 5 along with leaders from 15 European Union member states, the European Commission and 10 Asian countries, he will visit China.
Xinhuanet - September 24, 2004
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