VAST receives French Embassy delegation

30/05/2018

On March 19, 2018, Academic Chau Van Minh, President of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), received a delegation from the French Embassy in Vietnam led by Mr. Hervé Ochsenbein, Economic Counselor, Chief Representative of the Economic Agency of the French Embassy in Vietnam. Attending the reception were Dr. Bui Trong Tuyen, Head of the Space Technology Institute; and Dr. Ninh Khac Ban, Head of International Cooperation.

The two sides reviewed the cooperative projects over the past time, especially the VNREDSat-1 satellite project and the preparation of the VNREDSat-2 satellite project, in order to give a more comprehensive view of the cooperation between France and VAST.

Hervé Ochsenbein said it was his first visit to VAST since he was appointed economic counselor in September 2017, and expressed his pleasure to meet with the VAST leaders. On the occasion of Vietnam and France commemorating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties and 5 years of strategic partnership, he added he hoped that the cooperation between the two sides would be further reinforced for continued scientific and technological cooperation, serving socio-economic development.

The two sides take a photo at the reception.

Academic and Dr. Chau Van Minh, VAST President, welcomed the French Embassy’s delegation to visit VAST. At present, VAST has many cooperation projects with France, including VNREDSat-1 satellite project and University of Science and Technology of Hanoi (USTH). It is expected that during the upcoming visit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to France, VAST will meet and sign cooperation with the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) on marine environment resources research and planning. Relating to the cooperation in space science and technology, VNREDSat-1 will operate in orbit until May 2018, which is the end of the operational cycle, but according to satellite experts, it is still capable of operating for several years. Regarding the VNREDSat-2 satellite project, VAST President Chau Van Minh said he hoped that suitable solutions would be found for the financial issue, and that the two sides would have more opportunities to cooperate with each other in order to enhance scientific cooperation between VAST and French partners.

Translated by Phuong Huyen
Link to Vietnamese version