Vitenam, Italy seek to further step up locality-to-locality cooperation

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Vietnam in Italy, in collaboration with Italian and Vietnamese partners, has co-hosted a Vietnam-Italy local partnership and cooperation conference in northern Bologna city.

Delegates pose for a group photo at the conference

The October 17 event brought together 200 delegates being officials, representatives of localities, corporations, and businesses from the Italian regions of Emilia-Rogmana, Lombardia, Piemonte, Liguria, Toscana, Marche, Puglia, Campania, and Calabria; and Kon Tum, Ha Nam, Nghe An provinces and Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam.

Being the first of this kind, it marked an important development milestone, opening up new opportunities for cooperation to meet the rapidly growing demand for collaboration between localities of the two countries.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Duong Hai Hung emphasised that the two sides boast great cooperation potential that needs to be explored as Vietnam is strongly pursuing deep international integration, with its 63 provinces and cities playing a key role in this process; and Italy, with its 20 regions, is promoting internationalisation and expanding into new markets.

He highlighted the significance of the conference as providing a venue for localities from the two countries to meet, exchange ideas, connect, and initiate cooperation activities, as well as establish partnerships in various fields, including agriculture, food and beverages, industry, and machinery.

Councilor for agriculture and agri-food of the Emilia-Romagna region Alessio Mammi said the event can open up new cooperation opportunities between the region and Vietnamese localities.

Through the two thematic workshops on agriculture, food and beverages, industry, manufacturing, machinery, and renewable energy, participants were introduced to the potentials, strengths, and cooperation opportunities, and updated on information on policies, incentives, and specific cooperation proposals by representatives from Vietnamese and Italian localities.

Francesca Alicata from SIMEST, an Italian credit organisation supporting businesses abroad, announced that the agency recently opened its office in Ho Chi Minh City with the aim of providing full support to Italian businesses seeking to operate in Vietnam.

This local partnership conference is a result of delegation exchanges between the two countries, especially the visits by staff of the embassy to almost all regions of Italy within the framework of the Vietnam-Italy Year 2023 and a programme to connect Vietnam and southern Italian localities the first half of 2024./.

VNA