Italian PM to visit Vietnam
(VOV) - The Prime Minister of Italy Mario Monti will visit Vietnam from November 7-8 at the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung.
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The Italian PM’s visit is expected to open up a new chapter in bilateral friendship and cooperation and to prepare activities to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2013.
Despite the negative impact caused by the global financial crisis, the Vietnam-Italy trade turnover saw a sharp increase in 2011, reaching up to US$2.5 billion. In the first nine months of this year, bilateral trade was estimated at US$2.1 billion.
At present, more than 35 Italian-funded projects are operating successfully in Vietnam, with a total capitalisation of US$194 million.
Italy is one of the leading providers of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, mostly in the fields of environment, health care, and small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a total funding of 35 million euro in the 2010-2012 period. The country has pledged to continue granting ODA to Vietnam in the next five years.