NDO – The Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) and the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) have reached a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen their cooperation in the field of scientific research and medicine to combat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis in Vietnam. Under the agreement, ANRS will provide scientific and financial support to collaborative research facilities in the country, known as “ANRS’s Vietnamese research sites.” These facilities will promote joint activities in experience exchanges, technology transfer and training, as well as implementing common research projects related to the characteristics of the disease in Vietnam. The Vietnam Administration for HIV/AIDS Control is responsible to coordinate the cooperation activities with ANRS in Vietnam. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long, Deputy Minister of Health, emphasised that the cooperation between the MOH and ANRS resulted in an HIV/AIDS research site in Southeast Asia in 2001. It lays a foundation for establishing a collaborative research centre in the region and facilitating international collaboration in the research and prevention of HIV/AIDS and related diseases. In the future, the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute, as well as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Hai Phong, will continue to maintain ANRS-supported research in both technical and financial terms, Long said, adding that new research directions in the field would help Vietnam to actively respond to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis virus. Since 2001, technologies transferred by the French side have been applied effectively in Vietnam. Local PhDs and masters have been provided with training in France,… [Read full story]
France will continue to help Vietnam in training cultural and art officials and welcome Vietnamese art students to study in France, affirmed Minister of Culture and Communication, Frederic Mitterrand. Minister Mitterrand made the affirmation during his talks with his Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh in France on May 6. The French minister proposed Vietnam soon set up a steering committee to organise the Vietnam Year in France and the France Year in Vietnam on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. He suggested the two countries sign a cooperative agreement on film…... [read more]
France fully backs Vietnam in its multilateral relations, particularly the country's request to the European Union to increase garment export quotas to the EU market, said the French trade minister on Oct. 7. France also supports Vietnam in its bid to join the World Trade Organization by 2005, said French Foreign Trade Minister Francois Loos during a meeting in Hanoi with Vietnamese Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen to discuss expansion of bilateral trade ties. France has long been a leading trade partner of Vietnam in Western Europe. Last year, two-way import-export turnover hit 910 million USD, according to the Vietnamese…... [read more]
French Ambassador Hervé Bolot said that France would support Vietnam to hold the Hue festival 2008 with its themes "Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development", to take place from June 3rd to 11th. Hue festival is one of the biggest cultural festivals in the region and in the country. France will help Vietnam to put together a number of artistic programmes in the festival's schedule. France will also give aid of 30,000 USD and participate in five of the programmes. Mr. Bolot said that "when visiting Hue city, the warm welcome of the local people and authorities show us that…... [read more]
John Kline, Chairman of the US House Committee on Education and Labour, made the statement at a meeting with National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in Hanoi on June 3.China on May 1 illegally installed its floating rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 deep inside Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. Its flotilla deployed to escort and protect the rig rammed Vietnamese vessels, injuring sailors and damaging their property. Defying Vietnam’s request to withdraw the rig, China even moved the platform to a new location still inside Vietnam’s territorial waters and dispatched more vessels to intimidate Vietnamese boats. John said that the US Congress follows…... [read more]
The agreement was reached during talks in Paris on October 1 between French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung. The two PMs exchanged views on bilateral and international issues of mutual concern. They noted with satisfaction the fine development of Vietnam-France relations in various fields in the framework of “traditional friendship, comprehensive, long-term and reliable cooperation in the 21st century” as agreed by the two countries’ top leaders. Two-way trade value has increased by 10 percent in recent years, reaching US$1.2 billion in 2006. France is Vietnam’s second biggest trade partner in the European Union…... [read more]
