President Tran Dai Quang, his spouse and a high-ranking delegation arrived in Rome on 21 November afternoon (local time), beginning his State visit to Italy from 21-24 November, at the invitation of his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella.

President Tran Dai Quang starts official visit to Italy (Photo: VNA)

President Quang will visit the Vatican on 23 November as a guest of Pope Francis.

Viet Nam and Italy established diplomatic ties on March 23, 1973.

Italy was the first Western European nation to back the enhancement of bilateral cooperation between Viet Nam and the EU at major international forums, as well as the normalisation of relations between Viet Nam and international financial, trade and monetary organisations in the 1990s.

Italy’s senior leaders have affirmed their resolve to step up multi-faceted collaboration with Viet Nam, regarding the country as a priority development partner in Southeast Asia and a destination for Italian businesses.

Trade between the 2 countries has increased years by years, reaching 4.3 billion USD in 2015. Italy ranks 31 out of 112 countries and territories investing in Viet Nam with 77 projects valued at 360 million USD in total, mostly in processing, manufacturing, leather and footwear, construction, lavatory equipment and steel processing.

Currently, nearly 5,000 Vietnamese live in Italy, mostly in the northern region with a thriving industry and a lot of job opportunities.

(Source: VNA)