A performance to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Italy diplomatic relations in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: VNA)Talking to Vietnam News Agency reporters in Rome, Hung highlighted that this is President Thuong’s first State visit to a member country of theGroup of Seven (G7) and a strategic partner of Vietnam, at an invitation of hisItalian counterpart Sergio Mattarella.
The visit is taking place in the context that the bilateral friendshipand strategic partnership is developing at a top rate in all fields, on bothbilateral and multilateral channels.
The visit is also a special event to celebrate the 50th foundinganniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations, contributing to opening newopportunities for the Strategic Partnership between the two countries to developfurther in the coming decades, said the diplomat.
During his trip, President Thuong is scheduled to hold talkswith the Italian President; meet with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Presidentof the Senate Ignazio La Russa, and President of the Chamber of Deputies LorenzoFontana, among others.
He will attend a concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and meet representatives of theVietnamese community in the European country.
The Vietnamese State leader will also visit the Vatican, meet withPope Francis and the Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal PietroParolin, said Hung.
The ambassador affirmed that leaders of the two countries have paid attention to consolidating and developingbilateral relations, reflected through regular high-level and all-level visits.
Vietnam is Italy's largest trading partner in ASEAN and Italyis Vietnam's third biggest EU partner. Last year, despite many fluctuations anddifficulties, two-way trade reached an all-time high of 6.2 billion USD, up 11%year-on-year. The Italian government has put Vietnam in the list of 20countries that it will continue to give priority to in promoting trade and investment to2030.
Regarding potential for bilateral relations, Ambassador Hungsaid the outlook is very bright for the two long-term partners.
The time-tested bilateral friendship and solidarity, stablepolitical relations, concern and support between senior leaders of the two countries, and high mutual trust are favourable conditions for thedevelopment of comprehensive cooperation in all fields, he highlighted.
The economies of the two countries are both similar andcomplementary to each other in terms of industries and products, thus bringinggreat added value as cooperation is intensified. Recently, Italy's increasinginterest in the Indo-Pacific region in general, and ASEAN and Vietnam inparticular has become clearer.
Italian businesses have shown increasing interest in cooperation in investment and trade with Vietnam - a partner with strengths interms of a young workforce, competitive costs, a large consumption market, a dynamicbusiness environment, and improved infrastructure.
In addition to traditional fields, the two sides haveprospects for cooperation in new fields such as digital transformation, greeneconomy, renewable energy, especially in the implementation of commitmentsunder the Just Energy Transition Partnership to which Italy has pledged tocontribute 500 million USD, according to the diplomat.
Collaboration in culture, education, science-technology, justice, tourism, sports, as well as people-to-people exchanges and local partnership continues to expand while bilateral ties in national defence, security, press, and theoretical and strategic research have also seen new developments./.
VNA
