Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung holds talks with Italian Prime Minister

The two Prime Ministers informed each other about the situation in each country and agreed to discuss directions and measures to strengthen and promote the Vietnam-Italy bilateral relationship in a practical and effective manner.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi at the official welcoming ceremony. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

At the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of the Republic of Italy Matteo Renzi paid an official visit to Vietnam from June 9-10.

On the afternoon of June 9, the two Prime Ministers held talks.

New development in Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung warmly welcomed Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on his official visit to Vietnam. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highly appreciated the significance of this first visit by an Italian Prime Minister to Vietnam since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973, marking a new step in the development of the strategic partnership between Vietnam and Italy.

The two sides informed each other about the situation in each country and agreed to discuss directions and measures to strengthen and promote bilateral relations in a practical and effective manner.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed that with the policy of persistently pursuing an independent, self-reliant, multilateral and diversified foreign policy, proactively and actively integrating into the international and regional community, Vietnam always attaches importance to the role and position of Italy in Europe and the world and wishes to develop the Vietnam-Italy relationship in depth and effectively in the spirit of the Joint Statement on the establishment of the Strategic Partnership.

Prime Minister Matteo Renzi sincerely thanked Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the Vietnamese side for the warm and friendly reception; highly appreciated Vietnam's great achievements in all aspects of development; affirmed that Italy always attaches importance to and wishes to promote the strategic partnership with Vietnam, a country that plays an important role in Southeast Asia and ASEAN.

Discussing bilateral relations, the two sides agreed that the political, diplomatic and economic, cultural, educational and scientific-technological cooperation between the two countries has developed positively in recent times, especially the official upgrading of the relationship to Strategic Partnership during the State visit to Italy by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in January 2013; affirming that the two sides will work together to develop this good relationship commensurate with the potential and wishes of both sides.

Increase two-way trade turnover to 5 billion USD

In that spirit, the two sides agreed to continue to increase delegation exchanges at all levels; agreed to strive to increase the two-way trade turnover from the current level of 3.5 billion USD to over 5 billion USD in the next 2 years, creating conditions for businesses of the two countries to connect with partners, strengthen economic cooperation in many fields, especially in fields where Italy has strengths and Vietnam has demand such as: Mechanical engineering, textiles, footwear, wood processing, supporting industries, construction materials, energy, food processing...

The two sides highly appreciated the results of the implementation of development cooperation projects in the past time and agreed to continue discussions to soon approve the Development Cooperation Plan for the next phase; agreed to strengthen cooperation in culture, education-training, science-technology; promote initiatives to establish cooperation mechanisms between universities and establish the Italy-Vietnam Center for Research and Training Excellence.

The two sides also agreed to maintain and implement consultation mechanisms between the two countries' ministries and sectors in each area of ​​cooperation, such as the Strategic Dialogue at the Deputy Foreign Minister level; the Strategic Dialogue at the Deputy Defense Minister level, and agreed to establish an Intergovernmental Committee on Economic Cooperation and hold the first meeting of the Committee in November 2014.

In the spirit of mutual understanding, frankness and trust, the two sides discussed many international and regional issues of mutual concern; affirmed to continue to cooperate and coordinate closely at multilateral forums and international organizations, especially within the framework of the United Nations, ASEAN-EU and ASEM.

As the ASEAN-EU Coordinator, Vietnam affirms its support for Italy in strengthening relations with ASEAN; Italy supports Vietnam in developing comprehensive relations with the EU, including promoting the EU to soon ratify the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), supporting Vietnam to soon be recognized by the EU as a full market economy at the same time as concluding negotiations on the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Italian enterprises are really interested in the Vietnamese market

Affirming the importance of relations with Vietnam, the Italian Prime Minister emphasized that at this time, Italy is looking towards Vietnam with great interest. The opening of the Italian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City is a concrete effort to deepen the bilateral strategic partnership.

Appreciating Vietnam's dynamic development, including maintaining high growth in the context of global economic downturn and controlling inflation, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi emphasized Italy's importance to Vietnam's role as a bridge in cooperation between ASEAN and the EU. He also appreciated economic cooperation with Vietnam and said that Italy has included Vietnam in the list of 10 emerging markets in terms of trade and investment. As the rotating EU President in the last 6 months of 2014, Italy will promote relations between the EU and Vietnam.

The Italian Prime Minister said that both sides need to make efforts to strengthen economic, trade and investment cooperation. Considering that Italy's investment in Vietnam is very modest, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said that Italian businesses are showing real interest in the Vietnamese market, including in infrastructure investment. He also agreed with the target set by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of increasing bilateral trade turnover to 5 billion USD within the next 2 years. Italy also pledged to continue providing ODA to Vietnam and agreed to sign an agreement with Vietnam on this matter.

In addition, the Italian Prime Minister also agreed with the six cooperation contents proposed by Vietnam: cooperation in politics and diplomacy; cooperation in international forums; cooperation in economics, trade and investment; cooperation in culture and tourism; cooperation in education-training and science-technology; and cooperation in national security and defense.

Vietnam-Italy talks. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Support for resolving the East Sea issue by peaceful means

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung informed Prime Minister Matteo Renzi about China's actions of illegally placing the Haiyang Shiyou 981 drilling rig deep in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, using military ships and escort aircraft, deliberately ramming and damaging nearly 30 Vietnamese law enforcement vessels and injuring many people.

This action by China has seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty, seriously violated international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the DOC; seriously threatened peace and stability in the region. In response to this serious incident, Vietnam has expressed goodwill and conducted more than 30 exchanges with China to request that China immediately withdraw the drilling rig. Vietnam has persistently and resolutely fought to protect its sovereignty by peaceful means, in accordance with international law, and even legal measures.

Appreciating Italy's role in efforts to maintain peace in the region and the world, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked Italy to have a strong voice and support Vietnam's just stance.

For his part, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi emphasized that Italy's stance is the same as that stated in the recent EU and G7 statements, in which it expressed deep concern over the tense developments in the East Sea; opposed any party unilaterally seeking to claim sovereignty through intimidation, coercion or force, and called on parties to comply with international law in resolving sovereignty disputes.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi emphasized that the fundamental view to resolve the issue in the East Sea must be based on international law.

According to Chinhphu.vn