Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Tran Van Mien and French Ambassador to Viet Nam Nicolas Warnery on Monday held talks with an aim of boosting bilateral ties and cooperation between Da Nang and France.

French Ambassador to Viet Nam Nicolas Warnery (left) and municipal People's Committee Vice Chairman Tran Van Mien

In the talks, the officals disscussed ways on boosting bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest between the two sides, with a focus on such priority areas as IT, startup and innovation.

Vice Chairman Mien said Da Nang has to date attracted 32 French-invested projects totalling 24.9 million US$ in total, and the majority of them are active in the aspects of IT and food supply.

Last year saw the city’s total export and import turnovers to France stand at 15 million US$ and 14.5 million US$, respectively, Mr Mien said.

A cooperation agreement on educational and cultural cooperation jointly signed by the municipal government and the French Embassy in Viet Nam in June 2015 expired on 19 June 2020. Hence, Vice Chairman Mien suggested that the two sides consider either extending or signing a new one for the sake of better cultural and educational cooperation.

Mr Mien and Mr Nicolas Warnery also exchanged views to encourage more French investors to put the money into Da Nang, and expand their operations into Hi-tech and IT parks in the city. 

Ambassador Nicolas Warnery highly appreciated the continually flourishing relationship between the University of Da Nang (UDN) and the French universities. The UDN has entered into many joint training projects with the University of Nantes, Nice-Sophia-Antipolis and Grenoble.

Till date, a total of 51 students from Da Nang have studied in France under the bilateral cooperation agreement on education and culture with the French Embassy in Viet Nam.

The French diplomat highly applauded the ratification of the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) in marking a strategic breakthrough in the journey of bilateral cooperation with France in the time to come.

By LAM PHUONG- Translated by A.T