Hanoi (VNA) - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang and Italian Undersecretary of State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Maria Tripodi co-chaired the sixth deputy ministerial-level political consultation in Hanoi on January 17 to discuss bilateral cooperation and explore orientations to bilateral ties in various fields.

Hang affirmed that Vietnam values its strategic partnership with Italy and wishes to work with Italy to contribute to global and regional peace and stability and jointly address global challenges.

She expressed her delight at the robust growth in two-way trade, which surged to 6.9 billion USD in 2024, marking a 13% increase from 2013 and nearing the 7 billion USD target set in the Joint Statement on strengthening the Vietnam-Italy Strategic Partnership.

The host suggested both sides continue effectively realising the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and called on Italy to advocate for the European Commission (EC) to soon lift the IUU-related yellow card warning against Vietnam’s seafood exports.

Hang expressed her thanks for Italy's crucial support in addressing climate change, particularly through its involvement in drafting the Political Declaration on establishing the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), and proposed enhanced financial aid, institutional development, and human resources training from Italy and other JETP partners.

Tripodi, for her part, expressed her admiration for Vietnam's socio-economic achievements and goals in the new era. She reaffirmed Italy's commitment to fostering a strong friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam, its priority partner and largest trading partner in ASEAN.

She pledged to work closely on various investment and trade promotion programmes to facilitate better understanding and investment opportunities for firms from both countries.

Italy always accompanies Vietnam in its socio-economic development journey and efforts to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, she said, praising Vietnam’s strong commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) and vowing to work with Vietnam and JETP partners to advance concrete projects aimed at addressing climate change, particularly in the Mekong Delta.

Both sides promised to facilitate the exchange of all-level delegations, especially those at high level, contributing to consolidating political trust and creating favourable conditions for collaboration in other areas. They underlined the importance of actively realising agreements and commitments reached during visits, intensifying consultations and effectively carrying out bilateral cooperation mechanisms regarding diplomacy, national defence, economy, sci-tech, with a focus on the political consultation between the two ministries.

The two deputy ministers agreed on directions to step up key cooperation areas, including national defence-security, sci-tech, development cooperation, energy, environment, culture, education and tourism.

Italy will actively partner with Vietnam in cultural sector and increase the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students, she said, vowing close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and international organisations, especially the United Nations, while fostering collaboration within the ASEAN-Italy and ASEAN-EU frameworks.

On global and regional issues of mutual concern, both sides stressed that disputes must be settled through peaceful means, in accordance with the fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter.

Regarding the East Sea issue, they reaffirmed tꦕhe importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight, supporting the peaceful settlement of disputes in line with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLꩵOS). They also expressed their support for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the building of a substantive, effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law./.