President’s visits to European nations and the Vatican contribute to deepening bilateral ties

This will mark the first visit to Austria made by a Vietnamese President over the past 15 years, as well as being the first trips to Italy and the Vatican by a Vietnamese head of state over the past seven years. The President's visit to Italy will also be the most important highlight as both nations are celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership this year.

Developing ties with Austria and Italy in a more practical manner

In 1972, when war still raged in Vietnam, Austria was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with the Southeast Asian nation. Over the past more than five decades, bilateral relations have grown steadily across a variety of fields.

In terms of politics and diplomacy, the two sides have maintained regular high-level and all-level meetings, as well as holding phone talks, alongside a host of meetings on the sidelines of multilateral forums.

Austria is always among the nation’s top 10 trading partners in Europe, while the country is a leading trading partner of Austria in ASEAN, with two-way trade reaching US$2.79 billion last year. The European nation’s investment in the Vietnamese market is duly valued at roughly US$148 million.

The two countries have also advanced their relations in other fields, such as culture, education, and science and technology.

Moreover, Vietnam established diplomatic ties with Italy on March 23, 1973. Since then, the bilateral political relationship has been greatly reinforced and developed.

Most notably, since the establishment of the Strategic Partnership in January, 2013, the two countries have actively augment practical and effective co-operation in all fields from politics, diplomacy, economics to science, education, defence - security, environmental protection, and connectivity between localities.

They have maintained regular high-level and all-level meetings, along with bilateral collaboration mechanisms.

During high-level exchanges, Italy always affirms its determination to bolster all-around co-operation with the Vietnamese side and regards the nation as a priority country to develop relations in Southeast Asia.
Last year’s two-way trade turnover hit over US$6.2 billion, up 11% on-year, with the figure is anticipated to grow by up to US$8 billion annually. 

Italy is currently the third largest Vietnamese trading partner in the EU and ranks 36th out of countries and territories pouring capital into the nation. It also provided EUR117 million, equal to US$130 million, in ODA for Vietnam.

Within the framework of President Thuong’s visits, he is scheduled to hold talks with the leaders of Austria and Italy in order to discuss a score of measures which seek to ramp up linkages in fields such as trade, investment, defence, security, labour and vocational training, renewable energy, and people-to-people exchanges.

The Vietnamese State leader will also hold a host of meetings with other leaders of the two countries as well as some of their localities, whilst also receiving leaders of several Italian political parties and working with representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Vietnam - Vatican relations see positive progress

The relationship between the nation and the Vatican has witnessed many positive development steps over recent years.

The two sides have maintained high-ranking visits, including trips 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 November, 2016; Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in January, 2007, and, October 2014; National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in March, 2014; and Standing Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh in October, 2018. This is along with visits to Vietnam by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, in January, 2015; Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Chairman of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference and member of the Council of Cardinals, in January, 2016.

On March 31, the Vietnam - Holy See Joint Working Group held the 10th-round meeting in the Vatican under the co-chair of Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang and Monsignor Miroslaw Wachowski, Under-Secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States.

Since 2011, the Holy See has dispatched a non-resident Special Envoy to Vietnam.