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President Vo Van Thuong (L) and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella. (Photo: VNA) |
The Italian leader’s and his daughter’s hosting of welcome and farewell ceremonies and a national banquet for the Vietnamese President and his entourage, along with high-level talks and meetings between the two countries’ leaders demonstrate the special importance the Italian State and people attach to the Vietnam-Italy traditional relations as well as President Thuong’s visit.
President Thuong’s three-day State visit took place in the context that the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership.
Vietnam and Italy have maintained many bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the annual strategic dialogue at the deputy foreign ministerial level and the defense policy dialogue at the deputy ministerial level, as well as the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation and Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation.
Vietnam remains one of the 10 emerging countries prioritized for trade and investment cooperation development by Italy until 2030. The two countries have created favorable conditions for businesses of each other to cooperate in areas of Italy’s strength and Vietnam’s demand such as mechanical engineering, infrastructure, garment and textiles, footwear, wood processing, supporting industries, building materials, oil and gas, renewable energy, and food processing.
At present, Vietnam is Italy's largest trading partner in ASEAN, with two-way trade reaching US$6.2 billion in 2022, up 11 percent compared to 2021, according to Vietnam Customs. Specifically, Vietnam's exports to Italy last year totaled $4.4 billion, up 14 percent over the previous year, and its imports from Italy - $1.7 billion, up 3.6 percent.
In the first four months of 2023, two-way trade topped $2 billion, down 2.7 percent from the same period in 2022, in which exports decreased by 3 percent.
