The PCA is a framework agreement that looks to adjust the relationship between Vietnam and the EU and replaces the 1995 Vietnam-European Commission Framework Cooperation Agreement. The deal allows Vietnam to access the EU market more easily on the basis of the equal, long-term, and stable partnership and comprehensive cooperation. 
Signed on June 27, 2012, the pact will come into force after it is ratified by all EU members. Italy and Greece have yet to ratify the agreement. The PCA was sailed through the Senate of France on December 17, 2015, with 100 percent of the vote.
Vietnamese-French Gwanegan Bui, a member of the Committee for Foreign Affairs under the Chamber of Deputies, said that the Chamber of Deputies’ ratification will create a legal framework, contributing to expanding cooperation as well as encouraging positive changes in politics, socio-economics, and the environment between the EU and Vietnam.
Last month, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan hosted a reception for a visiting delegation of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group led by President Christine Deroche in Hanoi. At the meeting, the Vice President highlighted the great contributions made by the Senate of France in promoting the relations between the two countries’ legislative bodies, noting that the two sides have built close all-around ties over the last four decades.
She expressed her joy at the French Government’s decision to deploy bilateral cooperation mechanisms, which will focus on boosting links in economics, culture, health and the environment with Vietnam. She said this shows enhanced political trust and further cooperation prospects between the two countries in the future.
The host took the occasion to thank the Senate for its recent support for Vietnam and its approval of the V ietnam-EU Partnership and Cooperation Agreement ( PCA ), saying that if the French National Assembly considers the early ratification of the PCA, then Vietnam-EU cooperation in general and Vietnamese-French relations in particular will be strengthened.
The Vice President hailed France’s successful organisation of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris last year, and called on French firms to further invest in green development in Vietnam. Doan also hoped the delegation’s visit will contribute to bolstering connection among the two countries’ localities in the future.
