Italy, Vietnam step up judicial cooperation

 A delegation from the National Assembly (NA) Committee for Legal Affairs, the NA Committee for Social Affairs, the Government Office and the Ministry of Justice led by Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong on July 9 held talks with their Italian counterparts on measures to further judicial cooperation.

At the talks,  Italian Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando said that Vietnam-Italy relations has made remarkable progress especially after both nations upgraded bilateral cooperation to a strategic partnership in early 2013.

Italy has worked out a plan of action to implement the strategic partnership for the period 2014-2020, including enhancing judicial cooperation and dealing with legal affairs.

Minister Andrea Orlando fully agreed on the need and the basic content of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the two ministries of justice.

However, relevant agencies need to give feedback on the MoU before it is officially signed, therefore, the signing will be conducted at an earliest date, he noted.

On the occasion, Minister Andrea Orlando thanked the Government of Vietnam for backing his nation’s candidacy to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Minister Ha Hung Cuong in turn totally agreed with the assessment given by Minister Andrea on bilateral relations as well as cooperation in the judicial sector, adding that Vietnam regards Italy as a very important partner in the European Union (EU) and judicial cooperation between the two justice ministries has progressed over recent years, focusing on child adoption and delegation exchange at expert or deputy ministerial levels.

Minister Cuong also briefed his host on Vietnam’s renewal achievements over the past three decades, the process of law and judicial reforms during the past 15 years and the NA adoption of the 2013 Constitution- a drastic change in judicial reform since 2013.

Cuong asked the two justice ministries to negotiate an agreement on civil legal assistance aiming to protect citizens and investors of each country, effectively perform the obligations of members of The Hague Conference on international justice in which both countries are members.

After the talks, both sides conducted a roundtable discussion on issues of shared concern related to operations of justice agencies, judicial reform experience, training of judicial officials and regulations on criminal liability of legal entities.

During the visit, the delegation also worked with some Italian legal agencies.

VOV