The Ho–Sainteny agreement, officially the Accord Between France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, known in Vietnamese as Hiệp định sơ bộ Pháp-Việt, was an agreement made on March 6, 1946, between Ho Chi Minh, President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and Jean Sainteny, Special Envoy of France. It recognized Vietnam as a "Free State" within the French Union, and permitted France to continue stationing troops in North Vietnam.[1]