General Secretary and President attends Francophone Business Forum on innovation

Within the framework of the program to attend the 19th Francophone Summit and pay an official visit to the French Republic from October 3-7, on the morning of October 4, in Paris, General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation attended and spoke at the Francophone Business Forum on Innovation and Creativity (FrancoTech).

Speaking at the forum, General Secretary and President To Lam welcomed the initiative to organize a forum on innovation and creativity, in line with the spirit of the theme of the 19th Francophone Summit. Especially in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, investing in innovation and creativity is a policy and strategic choice not only for the country but also for the Francophone business community.

The General Secretary and President highly appreciated the key topics of the FrancoTech Forum, and believed that the forum would create opportunities to connect Francophone businesses. With a population of over 1.2 billion people, accounting for 16% of GDP and 20% of global trade, the Francophone space is a land full of potential and opportunities for economic cooperation, investment and trade exchange.

The General Secretary and President shared that over the past years, Vietnam has had many policies and guidelines to promote innovation, spread the entrepreneurial spirit, and create the most favorable conditions for businesses to operate and develop. The growth of businesses and the application of science and technology in business activities have significantly contributed to Vietnam's development achievements in recent years.

From a backward economy, Vietnam has risen to the Top 40 leading economies in the world, Top 20 economies with the largest trade turnover in the world, an important link in 16 Free Trade Agreements. Science, technology, innovation and creativity will be the inevitable choice of Vietnam in the journey to enter a new era, the era of national development.

General Secretary and President To Lam highly appreciated the Franco Tech Forum 2024 focusing on five key topics, demonstrating the responsibility of businesses in the face of urgent issues such as artificial intelligence, energy transition, human capital, food security and innovation.

The key topics of the Franco Tech Forum 2024 are also issues that the Vietnamese government and businesses are interested in. Vietnam, with its young, dynamic population and the rapid development of the digital economy, is becoming a market full of potential.

Vietnam aims to become a modern industrial nation, focusing on building a digital economy. Vietnam wishes to cooperate more closely with partners, including France and Francophone countries, to develop key, potential industries such as information technology, artificial intelligence, semiconductor industry, green hydrogen energy and promote the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship.

At this forum, General Secretary and President To Lam called on businesses and investors in the Francophone community to continue to pay attention to and invest in Vietnam. Vietnam is creating an increasingly favorable investment and business environment, with many attractive incentive policies and a very favorable position and position to help Francophone businesses continue to grow into large corporations and enterprises of international stature. Vietnam is ready to participate in supporting African countries in the spirit of "if you want to go far, go together".

General Secretary and President To Lam affirmed that the great potential and close cooperation between Vietnam, France and the Francophone community will together open new chapters in cooperative relations, contributing positively to the development of businesses and each country.

Also within the framework of the Franco Tech Forum, General Secretary and President To Lam and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation visited exhibition booths of enterprises, especially those of Vietnamese enterprises such as FPT, VinFast, VietnamAirlines, and VietJet.

The General Secretary and President encouraged businesses to strengthen cooperation with Francophone partners, and asked businesses to continue promoting investment, research, innovation, and capacity building.

The FrancoTech Business Forum on Innovation and Creativity is an initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron, organized within the framework of the 19th Francophone Summit in France with the aim of promoting business connections and cooperation in the Francophone economic space.

The forum includes many thematic discussion sessions, exhibitions of French-speaking business booths; B2B connections and investment calling activities, presentation of project and startup ideas. FrancoTech Forum focuses on 5 main areas, including digital technology and artificial intelligence, energy transition, human resources, logistics and food security, finance for innovation and creativity.

The FrancoTech 2024 Forum is attended by about 1,500 representatives of French-speaking businesses, economists, and scholars. Among them, some prominent French-speaking organizations and businesses include AirFrance, Orange, Mistral AI, Clever Cloud (France); Africa Global Logistics, APIX (Senegal), BAK'ss Group (Cote d'Ivoire); Novation City (Tunisia); Congo Numérique (Congo), CP Group (Thailand)...

Vietnamese enterprises attending this forum include: FPT, VinFast, Vietnam Airlines, VietJet.

On this occasion, General Secretary and President To Lam witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Benin on cooperation in the field of agriculture.