A delegation of French senators visited Vinh University and its Agriculture-Forestry-Fisheries Faculty on October 12, 2010. The delegation included Mr. Christian Poncelet, Senator of Vosges Department, President of Vosges Department Council; Mr. Gérard Miquel, Senator of Lot Department; Mr. Jean-François Girault, French Ambassador in SR. Vietnam and Mr. Benoit Kenneday, Secretary of interparliamentary Vietnamo-French Friendship group. The delegation was accompanied by representatives of Vietnamese Government and Nghe An provincal People’s committee.

The meeting was held in a frendly and cooperative ambiance. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Dinh Xuan Khoa, President of Vinh University, made a brief introduction of Vinh University including its strong points, potential resouces and difficulties it is facing. Mr. Christian Poncelet was very impressed by this information, notably the one related to Vinh University’s personnel and its variety of training courses. With the privilege of a province with a large mountainous area (83% of the total area), Vinh University can develop its Agriculture-Forestry-Fisheries Faculty in two orientations, firstly in training and secondly in scientific research of which the applied scientific research plays a very important role. Assoc.Prof.Dr. Dinh Xuan Khoa expressed his hope to get the support from the French senator delegation in the cooperation with French training and researching institutions and companies. This can promote the cooperation in training, research and agriculture, forestry and fisheries in Nghe An in particular and the cooperation in other scientific fields in general.

Mr. Christian Poncelet, the senator of Vosges Department, on mission at Vinh University

The senator Christian Poncelet appreciated Nghe An province’s potential of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. He also appreciated the achievements by Vinh University in recent years, especially the ones in training and researching activities of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Faculty. He understood the difficulties which Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Faculty and also Vinh University are meeting. He accepted the proposals by Vinh University’s president for training and scientific researching development cooperation with French partners, notably with the partners from Vosges Department. In his turn, Mr. Poncelet wished to link French partners with Vietnamese ones in general and the partners from Vosges and Vinh University’s in particular to promote the human resources and applied scientific research.

Despite a short time meeting, the direction of Vinh University and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Faculty and also the French senators and administration representatives can shared with each other the ideas and aspirations in cooperative friendship relations. This visit by the French senators set up a good foundation for bilateral and multilateral cooperative relations between Vinh University and Interparliamentary Vietnamo-French Friendship Group.