This is fifth visit to Viet Nam by a French President since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973, and President Macron’s first visit to Viet Nam since taking office.
The visit demonstrates France’s appreciation for Viet Nam’s role and position as well as its relationship with Viet Nam as an important partner in Southeast Asia and within the broader Indo-Pacific strategy.
Welcoming the French President and his spouse on a state visit, Viet Nam reaffirms its consistent policy of valuing and seeking to further promote the comprehensive strategic partnership with France in a deep, substantive, and effective manner.
The visit takes place amid the continued positive development of Viet Nam-France relations.
Since officially establishing diplomatic ties over 50 years ago, the Viet Nam-France relationship has witnessed many significant milestones on the path of mutual development.
Viet Nam and France upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership in 2013 and to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2024, making France the first European Union (EU) country to establish the highest level of partnership with Viet Nam.
Since upgrading to a comprehensive strategic partnership, exchanges of delegations at various levels between the two countries have increased significantly.
Within just six months after the upgrade, there have been 10 French delegations visiting Viet Nam, including four government and minister-level delegations and six business delegations in France’s key sectors.
Regarding party-to-party cooperation, the Communist Party of Viet Nam and the French Communist Party share a traditional close relationship. This strong bond is built on a solid foundation, as President Ho Chi Minh was one of the founders of the French Communist Party.
The two countries maintain multiple dialogue and cooperation mechanisms such as the Strategic Security and Defence Dialogue; the annual High-Level Economic Dialogue; the Strategic and Defence Cooperation Dialogue; the Local Cooperation Conference; Political Consultations; and the Maritime Dialogue.
Viet Nam and France also share many common views on international and regional issues, support multilateralism, and closely coordinate in international organisations such as the United Nations, ASEAN-EU, and the Francophonie. On the East Sea/ South China Sea issue, France supports Viet Nam’s position on resolving disputes peacefully based on international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and also supports freedom of navigation and overflight in the region.
In terms of economy, trade, investment, and development cooperation, France is one of Viet Nam’s leading European partners and its largest bilateral ODA donor. Two-way trade turnover has increased by 53% over the past decade, reaching over 5.4 billion USD in 2024, up about 12% against 2023. From 1993 to 2022, France provided Viet Nam with concessional loans totalling 16.7 billion euros.
In terms of investment, many leading French corporations are eager to participate in projects in Viet Nam, especially in nuclear energy, strategic infrastructure, urban transport, railways, aerospace, renewable energy, climate change response, high technology, and critical minerals.
Defence and security cooperation is a key pillar of the bilateral relationship, as demonstrated through advisory meetings, security dialogues, and officer training.
Notably, in 2024, for the first time, a French minister of the Armed Forces attended the 70th anniversary celebration of the Dien Bien Phu Victory, marking an important milestone affirming France’s aspiration to move beyond the past and look toward the future with Viet Nam.
Bilateral cooperation in other fields such as culture, education and training, healthcare, justice, and science and technology is vibrant and increasingly developing through cultural centres in each country, and such events as cultural and tourism weeks; the launch of Pasteur Institutes in Viet Nam; French language training projects; and student exchanges. Currently, about 7,000 Vietnamese students are studying in France.
Meanwhile, local cooperation is a distinctive area in the bilateral relationship, with France being the only country with which Viet Nam holds regular nationwide local cooperation meetings. The two sides are preparing for the 13th Local Cooperation Conference, which is expected to be held in France in 2026.
One of the important bridges for friendship between the two countries is the Overseas Vietnamese community in France, currently numbering about 350,000 people, including over 50,000 intellectuals and thousands of entrepreneurs, making it the largest overseas Vietnamese community in Europe.
Most overseas Vietnamese have a strong awareness of preserving their national culture, playing an important role in contributing to efforts to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between Viet Nam and France to increasingly flourish.
Viet Nam’s reception of the French President and his spouse on a state visit is a positive implementation of its foreign policy direction of the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party regarding independence, self-reliance, and the diversification and multilateralisation of international relations.
This visit is also an important milestone in bilateral relations, contributing to the effective implementation of outcomes from the official visit to France by General Secretary and President To Lam in October 2024. The visit is an opportunity for Viet Nam and France to further promote cooperation in traditional fields such as trade, investment, and tourism; while expanding into areas aligned with Viet Nam’s development goals such as nuclear energy, science, technology, and artificial intelligence.
May President Emmanuel Macron and his spouse’s state visit to Viet Nam be a great success, contributing to advancing Viet Nam-France relations in a deeper, more substantive, and more effective manner.
