The move was of great significance, reflecting Vietnam’s solidarity and willingness to share France’s difficulties in the joint battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.
These medical supplies were gifts from the State Committee on Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, the Hanoi People’s Committee, national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) and the Vina Mask Company to the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians' Groups at the Senate (upper house) and the National Assembly (lower house) of the French parliament, the French Communist Party, the France-Vietnam Friendship Association, the Ile-de-France region, the Association of Vietnamese People in France (AVPF), the Vietnamese Students’ Association in France, and the cities of Paris, Choisy-le-Roi and Montreuil.
Representatives of the French Communist Party receive the gift from Vietnam.
The masks were transported by Vietnam Airlines to France on May 5, on a flight which was aimed at bringing Vietnamese citizens in special circumstances home.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep, French friends were very touched by the spirit of solidarity and mutual affection of the Vietnamese people.
L’Humanité newspaper, the organ of the French Communist Party, expressed emotion at Vietnam’s first aid to France, affirming that the move would bring the two nations closer together.
Ambassador Nguyen Thiep hands over medical masks to Stéphanie Do, chairwoman of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians' Group at the French National Assembly (lower house).
Stéphanie Do, chairwoman of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians' Group at the French National Assembly, voiced her gratitude for Vietnam’s timely assistance to the French people. She stated that the made-in-Vietnam masks would soon be delivered to elderly people in French localities.
Chairman of the AVPF Vuong Huu Nhan said that medical masks are scarce in France at present, adding that, over recent times, the association has been striving to seek for supply sources to distribute to its elderly people or the infected. Assistance from the Vietnamese Embassy holds a significant and practical meaning, contributing to easing the worries of overseas Vietnamese, because masks will be compulsory in many public venues after France loosens lockdown measures.
Ambassador Nguyen Thiep presents masks to the Vietnamese Students' Association in France.
France is one of the Western countries heavily affected by COVID-19. As of May 7, the number of cases confirmed by testing was 137,779 and the number of deaths reached 25,987. It is expected that from May 11, socio-economic activities in France will gradually be resumed, following eight weeks of national lockdown. As planned, the Vietnamese Embassy will continue to present medical masks to the French people next week.
