Yen Bai and Val de Marne signed a cooperation program.

Over the past 27 years, Val-de-Marne province has given Yen Bai province a lot of attention, support and effective help through cooperation projects in the fields of Health, Culture and Heritage value, Supply of clean water, wastewater treatment, agriculture and rural development, planning and environment with a budget of over VND 111 billion…

At the same time, Val-de-Marne province welcomed more than 200 officials from Yen Bai province in the above fields to France to study, exchange and share experiences, improve qualifications and skills… The cooperation between the two provinces is considered an example of a local cooperation mechanism which has been highly appreciated by the Government, people of Vietnam and international partners for its effectiveness, diversity, dynamism and development prospects because it is based on mobilizing all available resources, encouraging the participation of administrative units and organizations of the two localities to develop together in a sustainable way.

Comrade Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of Yen Bai Province Do Duc Duy said that in the first years of the cooperation program (1996 – 2005), cooperation activities focused on improving professional skills for officials in various fields. in the field of health, clean water and wastewater treatment, providing equipment for Yen Bai province’s hospital with a total budget of 2 million euros, equivalent to nearly 50 billion VND.

Starting from 2006, the two provinces decided to diversify cooperation fields with the signing and implementation of 02 framework agreements for the period (2006 – 2009), (2010 – 2013) focusing on the following areas: Health, culture and information, agriculture and rural development, clean water supply and wastewater treatment. The two provinces have coordinated to implement 19 projects, with the total budget of Val-de-Marne province supporting 26.42 billion VND and a number of other resources mobilized by the two provinces from outside more than 900 million VND. .

Typical cooperation projects in this period is the “Mobile library bus” project implemented in 2007 which has been highly appreciated, creative and unique by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam. It is important to promote and replicate the model to other provinces in the country. Up to now, the project is working very effectively. The project encouraged the community to read books and helped people in remote areas, the most remote areas, the youth and ethnic minorities of Yen Bai province, to access knowledge and information.

In the period 2014 – 2019, implementing projects in the fields of: Water, Health, Culture, Rural development, Training and capacity building, Public policy support and related prevention policies During this period, the two provinces coordinated to implement 13 projects, with a total budget of VND 32.2 billion, of which the Val-de-Marne Provincial Council contributed 10.82 billion VND, Yen Bai province contributed 6.95 billion VND. In addition, during this period of cooperation, the province of Val-de-Marne has called for funding from partners of the province of Val-de-Marne such as the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Paris Association of Wastewater Treatment (SIAAP) ), Seine-Nornandie River Basin Management Agency for cooperation projects in the fields of planning, environment, clean water and wastewater over 13 billion VND.

Also in 2020, the two provinces together signed a framework agreement on cooperation in the new period 2020 – 2026 in the fields of culture, economic development, health and environment. Due to the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, delegation exchange activities had to be halted and unorganized, but with the efforts of professional officials of the two provinces, cooperation projects were effectively implemented in Yen Bai province, with the following projects: “Investing in installing one-way anti-flood valves in Hong Ha ward, Yen Bai city”, “Supporting tourism development in Yen Bai province”, ” Piloting and deploying a model of a waiting room for mothers and children to visit and consult about health care at medical facilities in Yen Bai province.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, the province of Val-de-Marne was severely affected by the epidemic. With the spirit of mutual affection, Yen Bai province promptly donated 50,000 medical masks to officials and people of Val-de-Marne province for disease prevention and control. The representative of Val-de-Marne province considers this a living proof of the sharing, affirming the precious friendship and solidarity between the people of the two localities.

At the 12th Vietnam-France Local Cooperation Conference, which was successfully held in Hanoi in April 2023, Yen Bai and Val-de-Marne provinces jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding cooperation identifies and prioritizes cooperation in many important fields. In which, 03 areas in the cooperation program between Yen Bai province and Val-de-Marne province of France are: Ecological transformation and combating climate change, biodiversity conservation; Clean water, wastewater collection and treatment, access to water resources, prevention and propaganda; Health care, protection of mothers and children.

Immediately after the conference, cooperation activities will be carried out on the basis of close coordination in proposing cooperation contents. Accordingly, the two sides will conduct surveys and assess the specific needs of the beneficiary localities, thereby developing a budget plan for the operation, on the basis of sharing financial resources and responsibilities between the beneficiaries.