Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang held talks with French Minister for the Armed Forces and Veterans Catherine Vautrin in Paris on September 10, focusing on measures to further deepen bilateral defence cooperation.
The talks took place during General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) Central Committee and President To Lam’s official visit to France and attendance at the International Space Summit, accompanied by his spouse and a high-level Vietnamese delegation.
Giang noted that this is the second official visit to France by the Vietnamese leader since 2024, demonstrating the strong political determination of the two countries’ leaders to further deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership in a substantive and effective manner.
He said Viet Nam-France defence ties have continued to grow, with cooperation expanding in various areas, including high-level delegation exchanges; the deputy-minister-level strategic dialogue and defence cooperation mechanism; military medicine; education and training; search and rescue; UN peacekeeping operations; maritime cooperation; and defence industry.
Giang thanked the French Ministry for the Armed Forces and Veterans for providing scholarships to the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence in 2025 and 2026 in fields needed by the Vietnamese side.
France has also supported Viet Nam in improving the capacity of its personnel participating in UN peacekeeping operations through training courses, regularly sent experts to work with Viet Nam’s Peacekeeping Department, and supported the deployment of Vietnamese officers to the European Union Training Mission in the Central African Republic, he said.
For her part, Vautrin affirmed that France attaches importance to its comprehensive strategic partnership with Viet Nam. She highlighted the two countries’ longstanding historical and cultural ties and expressed France’s wish to strengthen sustainable strategic trust.
France is ready to accompany Viet Nam, support each other’s strategic ideas and initiatives, and work together to strengthen strategic autonomy, she said.
The French minister welcomed the continued development of bilateral defence cooperation, describing it as an important pillar of overall Viet Nam-France relations. She said cooperation has been expanded in a practical and effective direction in line with agreements reached by the two countries’ senior leaders and defence ministries.
Giang called on France to continue providing Viet Nam with undergraduate and postgraduate training, internships, professional training, and opportunities to attend conferences and seminars. He also proposed that France continue sending experts to provide technical support and teaching at the Viet Nam Department of Peacekeeping Operations and coordinate training courses in Viet Nam.
Viet Nam is ready to receive French military personnel to attend international defence officials’ courses and Vietnamese-language courses, as well as military medical trainees for internships at military hospitals under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence, he said.
He welcomed a delegation from the French Ministry for the Armed Forces and Veterans to the third Viet Nam International Defence Expo in Ha Noi in this December.
He also proposed that the two sides accelerate the signing of a memorandum of understanding on searching for Vietnamese and French service members who remain unaccounted for and exchanging wartime memorabilia, creating a framework for cooperation in this humanitarian field.
The two sides agreed to further deepen bilateral defence ties, with a focus on delegation exchanges, particularly at senior levels; maintaining strategic consultations and dialogue mechanisms; training cooperation; UN peacekeeping; and defence industry cooperation.
At the talks, Giang and Vautrin signed an agreement between the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence and the French Ministry for the Armed Forces and Veterans on cooperation in UN peacekeeping operations.
