The visits will be made at the invitation of Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, Spanish King Juan Carlos and Slovakian President Ivan Gasparovic.

During his stay in Italy, President Triet is scheduled to meet with Pope Benedict XVI on December 11.

Italy officially established diplomatic ties with Vietnam on March 23, 1973. Since then, the two countries have constantly developed their bilateral relations and exchanged regular visits at all levels. Two-way trade has grown steadily in recent years, from just US$320 million in 1996 to US$1.67 billion in 2008. Vietnam has mainly exported footwear, coffee, garments and seafood to Italy, and imported machines, mechanical equipment, transport vehicles and leather materials.

Spain set up diplomatic relations with Vietnam on May 23, 1977. Since 1990s, Spain has supported Vietnam’s efforts to normalise and beef up ties with international financial and monetary organisations and the European Union (EU).
Spain’s two-way trade with Vietnam has increased rapidly, to US$1.1 billion in 2008 from US$470 million three years earlier. Vietnam’s exports to Spain include seafood, coffee, garments and footwear. Spain is the world’s 6th largest provider of official development assistance to Vietnam, focusing on hunger eradication, poverty reduction, health care and education.

Since Vietnam and Slovakia set up their diplomatic ties on February 2, 1950, their relations have been strengthened through regular exchange of high-ranking delegations. Vietnam mainly exports garments, electronic products, food, agricultural products, seafood and footwear to Slovakia while importing chemicals, cattle-feed, plastic materials, equipment and machines from the European market. Two-way trade between Vietnam and Slovakia has increased rapidly over the past years with US$100 million in 2008, up US$25 million against the previous year.