Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called on Italian businesses to pour money into Vietnam when they “look East” to Asia as Vietnam has emerged as a promising destination.
PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Italian PM Giuseppe Conte and other participants pose for a photo at the Dialogue, Hanoi, June 6, 2019. Photo: VNA
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This is the third edition of such dialogue after the first in Jakarta in 2017 and the second in Singapore in 2018. The event was also attended by Italian PM Giuseppe Conte, who is on a visit to Vietnam on June 5-6, over 300 enterprises from Italy, ASEAN countries and some 150 from Vietnam.
“Let’s go together to jointly succeed and thrive. That would be much more amazing when the EVFTA and EVIPA are signed and ratified in the near future with your support,” PM Phuc noted, referring to the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the EU-VN Investment Protection Agreement.
During talks on June 5, the Vietnamese and Italian PMs agreed to raise the bilateral trade from nearly US$5 billion now to US$6 billion by 2020 and US$10 billion afterwards.
Addressing the event, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung noted that Vietnam and Italy have enjoyed a good traditional relationship and lifted their ties to strategic partnership in 2013. Italy is now Vietnam’s fourth-largest trade partner in the EU and Vietnam is the European country’s biggest trade partner in ASEAN.
A large number of Italian businesses are present and have harvested big successes here. However, there remains large room for the two countries to further boost their economic and trade ties, he added.
Vietnam’s deepened economic integration helps businesses from Vietnam and other countries to access each other’s market and reach out to larger ones in ASEAN and Asia-Pacific, Dung said, calling on the Italian government, parliament and businesses to support the early signing of the EVFTA.
Former Italian PM Enrico Letta, now president of the Associazione Italia ASEAN, pointed out that ASEAN is the fifth-largest economy as a whole in the world, and is an important economic and geopolitical region for both Italian government and enterprises. Italy considers Vietnam a strategic gateway for Italian businesses in Southeast Asian.
That position will lead to stronger trade activities and investments from Italy into Vietnam in the time ahead, playing the role as stepping stones for Italian enterprises in enhancing their presence in the potential ASEAN market, Letta added.
Also at the dialogue, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said the event will provide a chance to enhance the Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership and open up cooperative opportunities between ASEAN countries and Italian government and businesses.
He pledged to support Italian sides to make the event a success, contributing to promoting economic, trade and investment cooperation, and enhancing the relations among Italy, Vietnam and ASEAN.
