The Italian Government would strive for the parliamentary approval of the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) at the soonest.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the phone talk. Source: VGP

Prime Minister Mario Draghi gave the remarks in response to the request from his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh during a phone talk today [April 20].

According to Draghi, Italian businesses are interested in investing in Vietnam, especially in the fields of renewables, infrastructure, water management, and innovation.

On this occasion, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Chinh thanked the Italian Government for their active role in supporting the case of Vietnamese cashew exporters falling victims to fraud.

Draghi noted the Italian authorities have intervened and stopped the delivery of the cashew consignments to a third party while the investigation is going on.

During the phone talk, Chinh also highlighted the timely support of 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines by Italy for Vietnam via COVAX.

Chinh said Vietnam remains steadfast in realizing its commitments made at COP26, especially in reducing carbon emissions, transitioning to a green economy, and realizing the net-zero emission by 2050.

He called for Italy, as a key member of G7 and EU, to continue to assist Vietnam in accessing necessary funding and technologies to tackle climate change, along with taking part in digitalization programs and the establishment of a just energy transition partnership with Vietnam.

Chinh also called for Italy to facilitate the EU’s conclusion on lifting the yellow card on Vietnam fishery exports for illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU), while creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to penetrate the Italian market, such as seasonal fruits and food products.

During the talk, both prime ministers expressed delight at the strong progress of the Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership and agreed on the necessity to further enhance high-level exchanges between the two sides for greater efficiency of the action program on implementing strategic partnership in the 2021-2023 period.

Two years on since the effectiveness of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement, bilateral trade in 2021 rose by 20% year-on-year amid Covid-19 impacts to US$5.6 billion.

Chinh welcomed Italy’s decision of giving priority to engaging in trading activities with Vietnam beyond 2020.

“Vietnam would continue to create favorable conditions for Italian businesses to expand operation in the country,” Chinh said.

Meanwhile, the two leaders also agreed on close cooperation in multilateral frameworks, such as the UN, UNESCO, ASEM, and ASEAN-EU.

Both Chinh and Draghi discussed international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea and the significance of addressing disputes via peaceful solutions, which are based on international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.

The Vietnamese prime minister invited his Italian counterpart to visit Vietnam, for which the latter agreed and also extended an invitation to Chinh to tour Italy at an appropriate time.