Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte have agreed to raise the bilateral trade from nearly US$5 billion now to US$6 billion by 2020 and US$10 billion afterwards.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomes his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in Ha Noi. Photo by Quang Hieu/VGP
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The Italian PM affirmed to support the early signing and approval of these agreements, contributing to promote trade and investment ties of all members.
PM Phuc stressed that Vietnam always values the friendly relations and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Italy, an important member of European Union (EU) as the two countries have celebrated 45 years of establishing diplomatic relations (1973-2018) and five years of bilateral strategic partnership (2013-2018).
The Italian PM highly valued the increasingly important role of Vietnam in the region and the world as well as the country’s success in hosting a number of significant international events.
He also affirmed that Italy always attaches importance to and expects to enhance the strategic partnership with Vietnam and considers the country a leading partner in Southeast Asia.
In terms of bilateral relations, the two leaders highly appreciated the effective and dynamic cooperation between the two countries in many fields.
The two sides agreed to improve exchanges and meetings at all levels as well as boosting the cooperation in politics - diplomacy, economics, culture, education-training, science-technology, security-defense, sustainable development, climate change and local level exchanges.
The two leaders also consented to reinforce the current cooperative mechanisms such as the deputy ministerial strategic dialogue on diplomacy and national defense, Joint Committee on Vietnam-Italy economic cooperation and other agreed cooperative programs and agreements.
In terms of economy, the two PMs highly valued the growth in economic exchanges between the two countries as Vietnam is the biggest trading partner of Italy in ASEAN and agreed to create favorable conditions for businesses of the two countries to work together in mechanical engineering, infrastructure, textiles, footwear, wood processing, auxiliary industries, construction materials, petroleum, renewable energy, food processing among others.
The Vietnamese PM welcomed the initiative of organizing the third edition of ASEAN-Italy high-level dialogue on economic relations in Hanoi, considering it an important opportunity for Italy to further enhance the economic ties with other ASEAN members.
Phuc stressed that Vietnam, as a center point on the FTA network of the Asia Pacific area, will be a gateway for Italian businesses to penetrate Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific region.
Two PMs also stressed the importance of peace, stability, freedom, security and safety of navigation and overflight in the East Sea as well as resolving all disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS).
PM Giuseppe Conte invited Vietnamese PM to pay an official visit to Italy and the latter gladly accepted. The exact time of the trip will be arranged through diplomatic channels.
