The three partners took part in a signing ceremony of a Minute of Cooperation Agreement in the field of sports on May 26 in Ha Noi.
SAV Deputy Director Le Thi Hoang Yen, AACVF Nguyen Lan Trung and AFS President Marc Lecerf were representatives of each side taking part in the ceremony.
Addressing at the event, Arnaud Pannier, Education Cooperation Attaché of the French Embassy in Ha Noi, said sport was a great bridge to strengthen a Viet Nam-France bilateral cooperation and the signing of the tripartite cooperation agreement was a typical proof for that saying.
He added that the signing was a foundation for the cooperation activities through which the AACVF and AFS could understand the needs of Viet Nam’s sport industry and they would base on that to work out suitable plans to contribute to improving Viet Nam’s results in the future.
AFS President Lecerf said: “Cooperation in the field of sports is increasingly important. Since 2024, France and Viet Nam have carried out many activities to improve the effectiveness of cooperation in this field.”
He hoped that the signing event would help Viet Nam push its results in the upcoming Olympics. He also expressed his willingness to cooperate with Viet Nam in a long-term plan to achieve this goal.
Sharing information about the cooperation agreement, President Lecerf said the first sport in the list was athletics.
French experts will assess the capacity, conditions and training equipment of the Vietnamese athletes, and discuss with coaches and trainers to understand their needs. Based on the obtained assessments, they will have plans for the next steps by the end of 2025.
The Minute of Cooperation Agreement of the three parties was signed to enhance exchanges and promote high-performance sports activities between France and Viet Nam.
It is expected to improve sport achievements and prepare athletes to participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028, 2032 and 2036 with the goal of winning medals.
To achieve this goal most effectively, the cooperation agreement focuses on implementing a training program for 64 talented young Vietnamese athletes and supporting 16 Vietnamese coaches to improve their quality from 2025 to 2028 in France.
At the same time, training courses and friendly competitions between two countries will be held to lift the effectiveness of the training activities to reach Olympic level.
From 2026, the French side will provide professional support to establish or upgrade a high-performance sports training centers in Viet Nam.
At the event, delegates also believed that it was important to push the sportsmanship, cultural exchange and solidarity between French and Vietnamese youth.
In box:
Sports that will receive support include athletics (women’s 400m and 800m), cycling (men’s and women’s road race), swimming (men’s freestyle) and shooting (men’s and women’s pistol and rifle).
Under the agreement, 64 Vietnamese athletes will be trained by 2028. Twenty of them will be trained in France from the first year (2025) including: two women in athletics 400m and 800m; two men and two women in road race cycling; two men in freestyle swimming; two men and two women in pistol events and two men and two women in rifle events in shooting; two athletes with disabilities and coach in powerlifting and two athletes with disabilities and coach in athletics.
The FAS committed to supporting a minimum budget of 200,000 euros (US227,000) for four years from 2025 to 2028 to provide high-quality coaching staff and professional sports facilities to Viet Nam.
The association will also cooperate with the City of Caen to mobilize human and technical resources from the Normandy’s sport federations. They will work with the City of Chateauroux (host of the 2024 Olympic Games’ shooting event) and the City of Montpellier (home to 2024 Olympic Games’ medalists) to organize activities within the framework of the agreement./.
Thanh Ha