Italian President Sergio Mattarella hosted an official farewell ceremony for President Thưởng, his spouse and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation in Rome. VNA/VNS Photo

ROME – Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Friday hosted an official farewell ceremony for President Thưởng, his spouse and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation in Rome.

The Italian leader’s and his daughter hosted both the welcome and farewell ceremonies and a national banquet for the Vietnamese President and his entourage, along with high-level talks and meetings between the two countries’ leaders demonstrate the special importance the Italian State and people attach to the Việt Nam-Italy traditional relations as well as Thưởng’s visit.

Thưởng’s three-day State visit took place in the context that the two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership.

Việt Nam and Italy have maintained many bilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the annual strategic dialogue at the deputy foreign ministerial level and the defence policy dialogue at the deputy ministerial level, as well as the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation and Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation.

Việt Nam remains one of the 10 emerging countries prioritised for trade and investment cooperation development by Italy until 2030. The two countries have created favourable conditions for businesses of each other to cooperate in areas of Italy’s strength and Việt Nam’s demand such as mechanical engineering, infrastructure, garment and textiles, footwear, wood processing, supporting industries, building materials, oil and gas, renewable energy, and food processing.

At present, Việt Nam is Italy's largest trading partner in ASEAN, with two-way trade reaching US6.2 billion in 2022, up 11 per cent compared to 2021, according to Việt Nam Customs. Specifically, Việt Nam's exports to Italy last year totalled $4.4 billion, up 14 per cent over the previous year, and its imports from Italy - $1.7 billion, up 3.6 per cent.

In the first four months of 2023, two-way trade topped $2 billion, down 2.7 per cent from the same period in 2022, in which exports decreased by 3 per cent. – VNS