France’s President François Hollande on Thursday told Vietnam’s Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son that he wants to pay an official visit to Vietnam soon, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The French President expressed his wish while receiving the credentials from Ambassador Son at a meeting in Paris.

During the subsequent function after the ceremony for credentials, the French president expressed his pleasure at the good development in the relations between the two countries, appreciating the rapid development of Vietnam as well as the valuable contribution of the Vietnamese community in France.

French President recalled meetings with senior leaders of Vietnam on the sidelines of major conferences in the past years and confirmed the Government and companies of France are interested in and eager to boost the relations between the two countries.

The French President also appreciated the role and the positive contribution of Vietnam in the French speaking community worldwide.

Ambassador Nguyen Ngoc Son affirmed that Vietnam highly appreciated the great importance to the strategic partnership with France and the wish of Vietnamese leaders to welcome the French President to visit Vietnam to concretize the strategic partnerships and generate new impulses taking the bilateral relationship to a higher level.

During the official visit to France in September 2013 of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnam and France officially upgraded their bilateral relations to strategic partner relations.

This is a landmark setting a new framework, creating a momentum and deepening the bilateral relations, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

President François Hollande accepted the invitation to visit Vietnam, said the visit had already been scheduled in the diplomatic activities of the President and suggested diplomatic bodies of the two countries arrange it soon through diplomatic channels.

In recent years, Vietnam-France relations are constantly being enhanced by the high-level visits by leaders of the two countries.

France confirmed its position as one of the most important partners of Vietnam in all fields, including politics, diplomacy, economy, commerce, defense and culture, and education and training.

To celebrate 40 years of bilateral diplomatic relations, the two countries held the France Year in Vietnam 2013 and the Vietnam Year in France 2014 with hundreds of events held in all fields, in many localities across between Vietnam and France in 2013- 2014.

Those activities of friendship and cooperation showed traditional relationships, the history and culture between the two countries and the two peoples, as well as the prospects for effective and sustainable cooperation in many fields in the future.