President of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong visited the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Italy and the Vatican from July 23-28 on the invitation of Austrian President Alexander Van Dar Bellen, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis, This is the first visit of the President of Vietnam in the past 15 years and is the first national head-level exchange activity between Vietnam and Italy and the Vatican for the past seven years.
Austria is one of the top 10 export partners of Vietnam in Europe. Vietnam is the largest trading partner of Australia in ASEAN. Bilateral trade exchange in 2022 reached US $ 2.79 billion. Austria’s investment in Vietnam reached about 148 million USD (ranked 44/143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam) and about 60 Austrian enterprises operating in Vietnam.
Vietnam wants the Austrian Government to have a voice support and promote the Austrian Congress to soon complete the approval of Vietnam-EU investment protection agreement (EVIPA); support the European Commission (EC) to remove the IUU yellow card soon for Vietnamese aquatic products; and create favorable conditions for Vietnam’s strong products such as electronics, textiles, footwear, agricultural and fishery products to access the Austrian and EU market.
For Italy, Vietnam is the country’s largest trading partner in ASEAN and Italy is the fourth largest EU partner of Vietnam. In 2022, although there were
many fluctuations and difficulties, the bilateral trade turnover reached the highest level ever of US $ 6.2 billion, an increase of 11% compared to 2021. The Italian government put Vietnam on the list of 20 countries to continue prioritizing trade and investment to 2030. Many Italian investors in the manufacturing industry operate effectively and successfully in Vietnam, including Bonfiglioli, Piaggio, Danieli, Datalogic, Ariston. The two sides are making efforts to effectively implement EVFTA.
Vietnam wants Italy to soon approve EVIPA, support the EC soon removing the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood goods.
For the Vatican, over the past time, Vietnam – Vatican relations have made positive changes. The two sides maintain high level contact and the mechanism of the Vietnam – Vatican mixed working group. Since 1990, every year, the Vatican appoints the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit Vietnam, exchange pastoral issues of the Church. In November 2008, the two sides agreed to establish a mixed working group of Vietnam – Vatican relations, annual and alternate meetings in Vietnam and Vatican. Up to now, the two sides have held 10 such meetings. Since January 2011, the Holy See has appointed a non – dedicated envoy in Vietnam. Currently, the Archbishop Marek Zalewski, Vatican Apostolic Nuncio to Singapore is the non – permanent special envoy of the Holy See in Vietnam.
Vietnamese Foreign Deputy Minister Le Thi Thu Hang affirmed that Vietnam consists of policies to respect and ensure the freedom of beliefs and religions of the people; the Vietnamese authorities at all levels are always interested and create favorable conditions for the activities of religions including Catholicism.
Meanwhile, Vatican Foreign Deputy Minister Miroslaw Wachowski emphasized that the Holy See always wants the Vietnamese Catholic Church to operate in accordance with Vietnamese law and contribute positively to the country’s development in the spirit of the Church’s teachings: “Good parishioners must be good citizens”.
The visit of the Vietnamese President is to deepen the bilateral cooperation with Austria, Italy and Vatican in particular and with Europe in general.
