Italian press reported extensively on the State visit of President Vo Van Thuong, affirming close and effective bilateral cooperation.

Báo chí Italy đưa tin đậm nét về chuyến thăm cấp Nhà nước của Chủ tịch nước Võ Văn Thưởng, khẳng định hợp tác song phương chặt chẽ, hiệu quả

President Vo Van Thuong and President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella during a state visit to Italy, July 26. (Photo: Nguyen Hong)

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife, along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, successfully concluded their State visit to the Republic of Italy and the Vatican, creating an important driving force to promote bilateral cooperation in an increasingly deep, effective, stable and sustainable manner. Many major newspapers in Italy continued to report on this event.

AGCNews newspaper on July 29 published an article titled "Closer relations between Hanoi and Rome after the visit of the President of Vietnam" emphasizing that Vietnam and Italy issued a Joint Statement on strengthening the bilateral strategic partnership, reaffirming the strong relationship between the two countries and implementing future cooperative relations, enhancing political , diplomatic, defense and security cooperation.

During high-level talks, Italy has always affirmed its determination to promote comprehensive relations with Vietnam, considering Vietnam a priority for developing relations in the Southeast Asian region. Vietnam continues to be one of the 10 emerging countries that Italy prioritizes for developing trade and investment cooperation until 2030.

The article reviewed new steps in cooperation. In terms of defense, the two countries have promoted partnership in all three aspects of defense policy.

Italy has pledged to share expertise in UN peacekeeping operations. The two countries have also cooperated on police training, heritage conservation and climate change response.

In recent years, trade and investment cooperation has been growing, with two-way trade turnover doubling since 2010. Vietnam is Italy's largest trading partner among ASEAN countries, while Italy is Vietnam's third largest partner among EU members.

Two-way trade turnover in 2022 reached 6.2 billion USD, up 11% compared to 2021. Trade turnover in the first 6 months of 2023 reached 3.1 billion USD.

In terms of culture, the two sides regularly organize cultural weeks and months in Italy and Vietnam on special occasions.

The two sides also coordinate and support each other in multilateral forums, while contributing their active voices to ensuring peace, stability, security and freedom of navigation and aviation, and respect for international law.

La Voce di Alba newspaper published an article about the statements of Congresswoman Chiara Gribaudo, Vice President of the Democratic Party and President of the Italy-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Group, after meeting with President Vo Van Thuong in Rome.

The newspaper quoted Ms. Gribaudo as saying: "On the morning of July 27, as Vice President of the Democratic Party, together with Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee Peppe Provenzano, we met with President Vo Van Thuong and the Vietnamese delegation to reaffirm the common path for peace, solidarity and international cooperation."

She also stressed that the new trade agreements with Vietnam, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), which have been ratified by the Italian Parliament, are opening up important new trade opportunities for businesses and expressed support for new business perspectives.

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