Vietnamese, Italian Presidents agree on major measures to enhance strategic partnership

At the talks between Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella - Photo: VNA

President Mattarella affirmed that Italy highly appreciates Vietnam’s position and role in the Asia – Pacific region and stressed the friendship and close sentiments between the people of the two nations.

The Italian leader said he was impressed with Vietnam’s dynamic economic development and consented to join hands with the Southeast Asian country to further promote the bilateral strategic partnership, thus contributing to the sustainable development in each nation and jointly coping with global challenges.

The two leaders informed each other about their respective nations’ situation, exchanged views on major orientations and measures to further step up the bilateral strategic partnership and discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern.

The two Presidents noted with pleasure that economic-trade-investment ties have been developing fruitfully with bilateral trade reaching 6.2 billion USD in 2022. Vietnam is currently the biggest trading partner of Italy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), while Italy is a leading partner of Vietnam in Europe. Italy now ranks 33rd out of 143 countries and territories directly investing in Vietnam.

Regarding economic ties, President Mattarella agreed with Vietnam’s proposal on continuing effectively carrying out the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and supporting the European Commission (EC)’s removal of its “yellow card” against Vietnamese seafood exports in a bid to further beef up economic and trade relations and contribute to economic recovery.

President Mattarella announced that the Italian Parliament ratified the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) right on the day President Thuong began his state visit to Italy, creating a foundation for Italy to increase investment in the Southeast Asian country.

Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong (L) and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella - Photo: VNA

President Thuong thanked Italy and stressed that the deal would bring benefits to businesses and people of both nations. He also proposed Italy urge other EU members to soon ratify the agreement.

The two leaders consented to enhance people-to-people exchanges by stepping up cooperation in education-training, culture-arts, tourism, locality-to-locality cooperation, and student exchanges, among others. Both expressed their support for the establishment of cultural centres in each country to promote understanding and connectivity between the people of the two countries.

President Thuong suggested the Italian Government create more favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country to integrate into the host society, contribute to socio-economic development in Italy, and continue serving as a bridge between the two nations.

They agreed to expand cooperation in security-defence, science-technology; continue to support each other at multilateral forums such as the ASEAN-EU cooperation framework, Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the United Nations, and response to global issues like climate change and food security.

The host and guest also exchanged views on several international and regional issues of mutual concern such as cooperation between Italy and ASEAN, cooperation between Vietnam and the EU, and the Indo-Pacific region.