Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister To Anh Dung and Undersecretaryof State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy Manlio DiStefano chaired the third political consultation at deputy foreign ministeriallevel via a teleconference on May 26.

Di Stefano conveyed congratulations from Italian senior leaders to leaders ofthe Vietnamese Party, State, Government and National Assembly, while affirminghis wish to boost cooperation between the two countries.

He stressed cooperation in trade and investment continues to be a pillar in theItaly-Vietnam strategic partnership. Despite COIVD-19, bilateral trade reached1.8 billion USD in the first four months of this year, up 28 percent from thesame period last year.

Deputy FM Dung affirmed Vietnam’s consistent external policy, with promoting relationswith important partners, including Italy.
Hehighly valued the bilateral effective cooperation across areas in recent times.Italy is Vietnam’s fourth largest trade partner in the European Union (EU),while Vietnam is Italy’s biggest trade partner in ASEAN.

He said the two sides need to take advantage of positive impacts brought by theEU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) to meet the target of raising bilateraltrade to 5 billion USD.

He asked Italy to soon ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement(EVIPA), and facilitate economic cooperation between Vietnam and the EU as wellas and Italy.

Discussing the current pandemic situation, the two sidessaid that vaccination is an important factor for the early opening ofeconomies, affirming their commitment to continuing coordination in sharing experiencein pandemic prevention and control, accessing safe and effective vaccinesources as well as transferring vaccine production technology. They also vowedto collaborate with and support each other in taking post-COVID-19 economicdevelopment measures.

The two sides agreed to strengthen the exchange of delegations and regularcontacts between the two countries' high-ranking leaders, continue toeffectively implement the mechanisms that they have built up over the years,and coordinate in mapping out activities to celebrate the 50th founding anniversaryof bilateral diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam-ItalyStrategic Partnership in 2023.

On the multilateral aspect, the two sides agreed to continueto actively coordinate in sharing information and exchanging consultative viewsand stances on international and regional issues of mutual concern.

Deputy FM Dung welcomed Italy for becoming a development partnerof ASEAN during Vietnam's Chairmanship, expressing his belief that this is thebasis to make ASEAN - Italy cooperation more effective and substantive.

At the end of the political consultation, on behalf of the Governments of thetwo countries, Dung and Di Stefano signed the Action Plan to implementthe Vietnam - Italy Strategic Partnership for the 2021-2022 period, with a visiontoward 2023. Accordingly, the two countries will focus on boosting collaborationin politics, diplomacy, defence, science and technology, culture, tourism, anddevelopment cooperation, energy, environment, sustainable development andtransportation./.