French President Macron to visit Vietnam in late 2024 or early 2025: ambassador

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to visit Vietnam in late 2024 or early 2025, French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet said Monday.

The diplomat made the statement at a meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, while reviewing the bilateral cooperation in the sector, amid the 50th anniversary of the ties (1973-2023).

Vietnam's Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong once reminded of such an invitation to President Macron at a phone talk in October, the ambassador noted. Boosting tourism ties was a key discussion at the talk, the ambassador added, while listing Vietnam’s tourism strengths related to heritage, craft villages, agriculture, and others.

For his part, Minister Hung said he will visit France on November 15-19 to attend some culture-sports-tourism events and proposed the French diplomat back the activities, especially improving the bilateral tourism cooperation.

Besides, the two sides discussed preparations for the upcoming Vietnam visit of President Macron.

Vietnam welcomed 1.11 million foreign arrivals in October, 129.7% year-on-year, and 10 million in the first 10 months of 2023, up 324.1%, according to the ministry-run Vietnam National Authority of Tourism (VNAT). The January-October figure included 169,820 French ones, up 232.7%, making French tourists the second-biggest figure among European nations, only behind the UK with 206,044.

Vietnam earned $2.61 billion from exporting goods to France and spent $1.37 billion on importing goods from the European country in the first 10 months of this year, according to customs data of Vietnam.

Vietnam's biggest cash earners in the period were telephone and components with $493.97 million and footwear with $437.96 million. France's biggest export staples to Vietnam were pharmaceuticals with $362.51 million and wood and wooden products with $85 million.