French Minister of Foreign Trade, Nicole Bricq, has begun her three-day visit to Vietnam to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and Vietnam.

The trip, part of Nicole Bricq's working tour to several Southeast Asian (ASEAN) nations, aims at strengthening the bilateral relationship between France and Vietnam, especially in trade and business activities.

She and her delegates visited Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand before heading to Vietnam.

The French Minister for Foreign Trade is also one of the keynote speakers at the Vietnam - France Business Forum, which will last until April 11, 2013.

The forum, which will kick-start some 40 economic activities held during 2013 to celebrate the 2013-2014 Vietnam-France Year, is one of the bilateral efforts in realizing the minister's goal.

There are around 120 French businesses in many areas, including technology, food processing, software, construction, cosmetics, healthcare and fast-moving consumer goods attending the event to meet with more than 500 Vietnamese companies to explore investment and cooperation opportunities.

The event is jointly organized by the French Trade Promotion Office in Vietnam (UBIFRANCE Vietnam), the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV), and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

After that, in addition to HCMC, there will be thousands of meetings between businesses of the two countries when the event continues in Hanoi and other provinces.

Located in the heart of Southeast Asia, Vietnam is considered one of the most dynamic economies in the region, with a significant economic growth rate of about 7 percent per year on average from 2001-2010. Vietnam is also listed as one of many emerging economies.

However, trade between France and Vietnam is not commensurate with the potential and political relations of the two countries.

The market share of French-made goods in the Vietnamese market is around 1 percent, while that in other ASEAN countries is 1.5 percent.

“The French government is very interested in the development of Vietnam and wants to strengthen economic ties with Vietnam.”

“Vietnam is a priority for the French market in many economic sectors, like industry and technology. So, this forum is an opportunity for French companies to access and expand in the Vietnamese market, as well as prepare to penetrate into the 600-million strong ASEAN economic community,” said Nicole Bricq.

France is the second biggest European investor in Vietnam after the Netherlands, with over $3 billion disbursed in the country by the end of 2012, followed by the UK and Germany with $2 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.

Regarding the future trend in French investment in Vietnam’s public sector, France is the second largest financier for public works, mostly infrastructure and education projects in Vietnam, after Japan.

France is the second biggest Official Development Assistance (ODA) donor in the world and the second biggest in the Eurozone for Vietnam. Total aid by the French Development Agency for Vietnam is 1.2 billion euros and, in addition, there are grants and financial loans worth up to 840 million euros.

The total value of bilateral trade between France and Vietnam in 2012 amounted to 3.3 billion eoros, up 22 percent compared to 2011, of which the value of French exports in Vietnam reached 613.5 million euros.

The value of Vietnam's exports to France reached 2.69 billion euro during the same period, an increase of 37.7 percent year on year.

There are some 300 French businesses investing in Vietnam, of which 85 are operating in high-tech sectors. There were some 33 new French-invested projects with a total value of $68 million obtaining new investment licenses, plus $57 million dollar poured in for the expansion of on-going project.