45 years of Vietnam-Italy relations marked

In his remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Cao Chinh Thien highlighted the fine relations between the two nations over the past years as shown by regular high-level exchange visits to intensify bilateral ties and mutual understanding, and the visits to Vietnam by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy in 2014 and 2015.

They affirmed the determination to further all-around cooperation, saying their country considers Vietnam as a priority to develop its relations with and also as a destination for Italian businesses in Southeast Asia.

Since a strategic partnership was founded in 2013, both nations have recorded numerous important achievements in politics, economy, culture, society and people-to-people exchange, he noted.

Vietnam has greatly valued the relationship with Italy through the official visits by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong in 2013, then National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in 2014, then President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Nguyen Thien Nhan in 2015, and President Tran Dai Quang in 2016.

The Ambassador also applauded strong growth in bilateral trade reaching roughly US$5 billion annually over the last five years, and the figure is expected to rise to US$6 billion in the near future.

With the wholehearted support of Italian people, the Vietnamese community in the country has also actively maintained and promoted Vietnam’s culture. Notably, cultural, tourism, scientific and educational relations have been expanded along with increased locality-to-locality cooperation.

Vietnam desires to reinforce the strategic partnership in all fields with Italy, an important European partner of the Southeast Asian nation, Thien said while stressing the importance of elevating bilateral ties to a higher level and fully tap each country’s potential.

For his part, Deputy Director General for Global Issues of the Italian Foreign Ministry Ugo Astuto extolled the countries’ traditional amity, and the attainments they have obtained over the last 45 years.

He suggested both sides should fully tap huge potential for broader cooperation in diverse fields and believed that bilateral relations will continue to grow and flourish in the time to come.