President Vo Van Thuong (Photo: VNA) This will be the first visit to Austria by a Vietnamese Presidentin the past 15 years, and the first trips to Italy and the Vatican by a Vietnamese head of state in the past seven years. The President's visit toItaly will be also the most important highlight as the two countries are celebrating the 50th founding anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10thanniversary of the Strategic Partnership in 2023.
Developing Vietnam’s relations with Austria, Italy in a moreeffective, practical direction
In 1972, when the war in Vietnam was not over, Austria wasone of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with theSoutheast Asian nation. Over the past more than five decades, the bilateralrelations have developed in many different fields.
In terms of politics and diplomacy, the two sides have maintainedregular high-level and all-level meetings, and held phone talks, together with meetings on the sidelines of multilateral forums.
Austria is always among Vietnam’s top 10 trading partners in Europe while Vietnam is a leading trading partner of Austria in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with two-way trade reaching 2.79 billion USD last year. The Europeannation’s investment in Vietnam is valued at around 148 million USD.
The two countries have also stepped up their relations in otherfields such as culture, education, and science and technology.
Meanwhile, Vietnam set up diplomatic ties with Italy on March23, 1973. Since then, the bilateral political relationship has been consolidatedand developed rapidly.
Especially, since the establishment of the Strategic Partnershipin January 2013, the two countries have actively promoted practical andeffective cooperation in all fields from politics, diplomacy, economy to science,education, defence - security, environmental protection, and connectivitybetween localities.
They have maintained regular high-level and all-level meetings, and bilateral collaboration mechanisms.
During high-level exchanges, Italy always affirms itsdetermination to promote multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam, and considersVietnam as a priority country to develop relations in Southeast Asia.
Last year, two-way trade turnover reached more than 6.2 billionUSD, up 11% year-on-year, and the figure is expected to rise to 7-8billion USD each year. Italy is currently Vietnam's third largest tradingpartner in the EU and ranks 36th out of countries and territories pouringcapital into the nation. It has also provided 117 million EUR (130 million USD)in ODA for Vietnam.
Within the framework of President Thuong’s visits, he will hold talkswith the leaders of Austria and Italy to discuss measures to promotecooperation in such fields as trade, investment, defence, security, labour andvocational training, renewable energy, and people-to-people exchanges.
The President will also have meetings with other leadersof the two countries and some of their localities, and receive leaders of severalItalian political parties, and work with representatives from the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Positive progress in Vietnam - Vatican relations
The relationship between Vietnam and the Vatican has seenmany positive development steps in recent years.
The two sides have maintained high-ranking visits, includingtrips to the Vatican by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in January 2013,President Nguyen Minh Triet in December 2009, President Tran Dai Quang in November2016, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in January 2007 and October 2014, NationalAssembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in March 2014, and Standing Deputy PrimeMinister Truong Hoa Binh in October 2018; and visits to Vietnam by CardinalFernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples,in January 2015; Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Chairman of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference and memberof the Council of Cardinals, in January 2016.
On March 31, 2023, the Vietnam - Holy See Joint WorkingGroup held the 10th-round meeting in the Vatican under the co-chair ofVietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang and MonsignorMiroslaw Wachowski, Under-Secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States.
Since 2011, the Holy See has sent its a non-resident SpecialEnvoy to Vietnam./.
VNA
