The seminar is part of the program of the 12th Conference on Vietnam - France’s Decentralized Cooperation, held on the afternoon of April 14, 2023. The seminar was co-chaired by Mr. Jean-Claude Dardelet, the Vice Mayor of Toulouse.
The seminar also had the participation of 150 delegates from the delegations of the French and Vietnamese local authorities, along with researchers and scholars.
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| Permanent Vice Chairman Nguyen Thanh Binh (3rd from the right) on the sidelines of the seminar |
Thua Thien Hue province had been honored to be the first locality of Vietnam to host the 6th Conference on Vietnam - France’s Decentralized Cooperation in 2005, and among the pioneer localities in the decentralized cooperation with the French Republic.
The province has established many cooperative and fraternal relationships with French local authorities since the early 1990s, typically with the regions of Poitou-Charentes, Nord-Pas de Calais, Bretagne, and Ile-de-France; as well as the cities of Paris, Rennes, Lille, Blois, Brest, Nantes, Nancy, Grand Poitiers, Nîmes, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
In addition, there are also international organizations including: the International Association of Francophone Mayors (AIMF), the Association of French-Speaking Regions (AIRF), and the Cities United France (CUF). Other organizations are Paris Wastewater Treatment Authority (SIAAP), the Rencontre du Vietnam, the Bretagne - Vietnam Association, the Enfance Espoir, the ADM, and the Vietnam - France Codev Association...
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh, in general, the decentralized cooperation relations between Thua Thien Hue province and French localities and organizations are spread across many sectors such as culture - heritage, education and training, Francophone cooperation, economic cooperation, and humanitarian assistance, etc.
France has always been the main partner, supporting Thua Thien Hue to successfully organize Hue Festivals from 2000 up to now.
“The bilateral cooperation projects between the two sides have made an important contribution to building Hue city into a typical festival city of Vietnam, an ASEAN city of culture, and an ASEAN city of environment… Especially, making an important contribution to the process of building and developing Thua Thien Hue into a city directly under the Central Government, grounded on preserving and promoting the value of the ancient capital heritage and Hue cultural identity," emphasized Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh.
Sharing at the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Binh also affirmed that Thua Thien Hue province would work with local authorities in Vietnam to continue to actively cooperate with French local authorities and partners so as to plan bilateral and multilateral cooperation strategies in the coming time, opening up more possibilities for the cooperation in economy, trade and investment promotion.
Also at the seminar, the presentations from Vietnam and France were presented in the form of pairs of partners. They proposed and exchanged orientations for the cooperation between localities of Vietnam and France in the fields of heritage - culture – tourism associated with the process of globalization, as well as the application of information technology and digital transformation in the localities such as Ha Noi - Toulouse, Nouvelle - Aquitaine - Lao Cai, Val de Marne - Yen Bai, and Thua Thien Hue - Grand Poitiers.
At the same time, the governments of Vietnam and France were recommended to include both risks and potential support in the projects on disaster prevention and climate change response related to the heritage - culture - tourism in the coming time.