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| President Vo Van Thuong and his wife concluded their official visit to Austria at the invitation of President Alexander Van der Bellen and his wife. |
Seeing off the President and his wife at the airport, on the Austrian side was Director General of Protocol Maximilian Hennig. On the Vietnamese side were Vietnamese Ambassador to Austria Nguyen Trung Kien, Honorary Consul Designated by Vietnam in Austria Markus Kircher, and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Austria.
At the invitation of Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife will pay a state visit to Italy and the Vatican from July 25-28.
Accompanying President Vo Van Thuong and his wife were Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son; Head of the Office of the President Le Khanh Hai; Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung; Secretary of Vinh Phuc Provincial Party Committee Hoang Thi Thuy Lan; Deputy Minister of National Defense Vo Minh Luong; Deputy Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang; Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bui The Duy; Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son; Deputy Director of the Supreme People's Procuracy Nguyen Quang Dung; Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee Pham Anh Tuan; Assistant to the President Duong Quoc Hung; Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung.
This is a very important visit, marking a milestone of 50 years of friendship and good cooperation between the two countries, and at the same time creating new momentum to promote the relationship between the two countries to develop even more strongly in the coming time.
The visit took place on the occasion of the two countries celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership.
Italy is an important partner and a loyal friend of the Vietnamese people. During the meetings, Italian leaders affirmed their respect for the relationship and their determination to promote multifaceted cooperation, considering Vietnam a priority country for developing relations in the Southeast Asian region.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella said he was very impressed by the beauty, warmth and dynamic development of Vietnam during his visit in November 2016 and in his recent congratulatory letter to President Vo Van Thuong, he expressed Italy's desire to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro said that President Sergio Mattarella will welcome President Vo Van Thuong on a state visit. The two heads of state will discuss and review the friendship, solidarity and bilateral cooperation in the past, and outline development directions for the future.
Italian Ambassador Antonio Alessandro said: “The visit of President Vo Van Thuong will renew the political relations between Italy and Vietnam, contributing to orienting and strengthening bilateral cooperation in all fields.”
In an interview about the significance of the Vietnam-Vatican relationship in particular and the Catholic community in Vietnam in general during the visit to the Vatican by the President and his wife, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang said that this was the first high-level contact between the two sides in the past 7 years, a very important event for the two sides to discuss promoting the relationship as well as the activities of Vietnamese Catholics.
In recent times, Vietnam-Vatican relations have made positive progress. The two sides have maintained high-level contacts and effectively implemented the Joint Working Group mechanism. Since 2011, the Holy See’s permanent representative has been operating regularly in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese State has always consistently advocated respecting and ensuring freedom of belief and religion, creating favorable conditions for religious activities in general and Catholicism in particular, in accordance with Vietnamese Catholicism.
On the Vatican side, Pope Benedict XVI issued instructions and messages instructing Vietnamese Catholic dignitaries and followers to implement the guidelines of "accompanying the nation", "good Catholics are also good citizens", and encouraging the Vietnamese Catholic community to contribute to the country.
Deputy Minister Le Thi Thu Hang affirmed: “I believe that in the current context, the positive development of Vietnam-Holy See relations will also create many favorable conditions for the connection between the Holy See and Vietnamese Catholics. I believe that the visit of President Vo Van Thuong will open up new prospects for bilateral relations in the future.
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