President Truong Tan Sang and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella agreed on a number of measures to enhance the cooperation between the two countries during their talks on November 6 in Hanoi.
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| President Truong Tan Sang receives his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella in Hanoi__Photo: VNA |
The measures include promoting all forms of cooperation at the governmental and local levels, effectively carrying out the action plan for 2015-2016, and bringing into play the role of dialogue mechanisms and the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation.
Sang said he regarded the Italian leader’s first-ever state visit to Vietnam as an outstanding advance in bilateral relations, particularly in strategic partnership between the two countries.
He emphasized that Vietnam would properly implement the policies on multilateralization and diversification of international relations, make efforts to build a strong ASEAN Community, and deepen its ties with prioritized and traditional partners, including Italy.
The President appreciated significance of Italy’s intensification of its relations with Vietnam as the country is speeding up international economic integration and promoting important bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTA), including its FTA with the EU.
Both presidents expressed their delight at the large number of cooperation mechanisms, including the strategic dialogue, the defense policy dialogue and the joint committee on economic cooperation.
They said they highly valued their countries’ coordination at multilateral forums, helping improve their international position, especially in solving global challenges like climate change, food security and maritime security.
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| President Truong Tan Sang and his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella witness the signing of an agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in customs__Photo: VNA |
The Italian President agreed that the two countries had much potential for economic cooperation, noting that Italy listed Vietnam among the 10 emerging markets it prioritizes for developing trade and investment.
He said the two countries should encourage their businesses to form partnerships, particularly in spheres they have strengths in such as manufacturing engineering, textile and garment, footwear, woodworking, support industries, construction materials, energy, agriculture and food processing, and oil and gas exploration and exploitation.
The two leaders also discussed orientations for cooperation in culture and tourism, education and training, and science and technology, bolstering connections between their nations’ universities, and creating favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Italy.
Following the talks, the two Presidents witnessed the signing of an action plan on realizing the Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership by 2016, and an agreement on cooperation and mutual administrative assistance in customs.(VNS/VLLF)-
