NDO - Immediately afterPresident Vo Van Thuong and his wife, along with the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation, completed all scheduled visits to the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Italy and the Vatican , Nhan Dan Newspaper reporters had an interview with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son about the results of the visits.
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Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son.
Here is the content of the interview:
Reporter: Could you please tell us about the significance of President Vo Van Thuong's official visit to the Republic of Austria, state visit to the Republic of Italy and visit to the Vatican? At the invitation of President of the Republic of Austria Alexander Van dar Bellen, President of the Republic of Italy Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, paid an official visit to the Republic of Austria, a state visit to the Republic of Italy and visit to the Vatican from July 23 to 28. This is the first visit to Austria by a Vietnamese President in the past 15 years and the first exchange of delegations at the head of state level with Italy and the Vatican in the past 7 years. Taking place in the context of the rapidly and complicated developments in the world and the region, the visit is a clear demonstration of the independent, self-reliant, multilateral and diversified foreign policy set out at the 13th National Congress, demonstrating Vietnam's consistent policy of always attaching importance to developing the traditional friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with the Republic of Austria, the strategic partnership with Italy as well as relations with the Vatican. It can be said that this visit of the President has contributed to creating new momentum to promote bilateral cooperation with Austria and Italy in all fields, from politics - diplomacy, trade - investment, development cooperation, education - training, science - technology, security - defense, culture. The visit is also the most important highlight in the context of Vietnam-Austria relations turning a new page when the two countries have just solemnly celebrated the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations (1972-2022), as well as Vietnam and Italy are celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of establishing the Strategic Partnership in 2023, thereby contributing to demonstrating that the Party and State of Vietnam always attach importance to and prioritize the building and development of good relations between Vietnam and other countries, for the benefit of the people, for peace, cooperation and development of the world and the region. Reporter: Could you please tell us about the specific results achieved during President Vo Van Thuong's visit to other countries this time? During the working trip, the President and his delegation conducted about 50 activities with rich content and forms, achieving many specific and comprehensive results in all aspects. The countries gave President Vo Van Thuong a warm, respectful and thoughtful welcome. The local and international political circles and press closely followed, reflected and commented positively on the President's activities during the visit, thereby creating a panoramic picture of the success of the visit, reflecting the good friendship between Vietnam and the countries. The leaders of Austria and Italy both affirmed that they considered Vietnam a leading important partner in ASEAN and wished Vietnam to act as a bridge to promote EU-ASEAN relations. Some important and outstanding results can be seen as follows: (i) With Austria, we expressed our determination to continuously foster and further develop the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation in general and the high-level trust between the two countries' leaders in particular, in line with the tradition of 50 years of diplomatic relations. The two sides highly agreed on measures to continue effectively implementing bilateral agreements, especially in the fields of innovation, energy transition, and culture, contributing to creating new momentum to further promote relations in the coming time. The two sides also agreed to coordinate effectively in implementing the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), and Austria will soon ratify the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA); urging the EU to soon remove the IUU yellow card for Vietnamese seafood exported to Europe... Vietnam and Austria also pledged to continue to closely coordinate and support each other at regional and international forums, while promoting the image of the two countries' countries and people, promoting tourism cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, and enhancing mutual understanding between the two peoples. (ii) With Italy, the Italian leader affirmed that Vietnam is Italy's leading important partner in Southeast Asia, and agreed to continue to increase high-level delegation exchanges through Party, State, Government and National Assembly channels. The two sides issued a Joint Statement on strengthening the Vietnam-Italy Strategic Partnership, setting out major directions and specific measures to deepen bilateral cooperation, especially in the fields of politics, economics -trade, security-defense, education-training, science-technology, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges. The two sides agreed to coordinate at regional and international forums; address global issues such as climate change, energy security, food, especially in the context of Vietnam and Italy participating in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). Notably, the Italian Parliament approved the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) during the President's visit, thereby creating conditions for the two sides to strengthen cooperation in potential areas such as digital economy, high technology, green development, smart agriculture, etc. (iii) Visiting the Vatican, President Vo Van Thuong met with Pope Francis and the Holy See's Prime Minister, Cardinal Parolin. Notably, the two sides announced the approval of the Regulations on the operation of the Permanent Representative and the Office of the Permanent Representative of the Holy See in Vietnam, marking a step forward in the Vietnam-Holy See relationship. This is the result of a positive exchange process in the spirit of respect, cooperation and mutual understanding. Pope Francis and Prime Minister Parolin expressed their impression of the positive, diverse and rich development of religious life and beliefs in Vietnam, including Catholicism; agreed that the Catholic Church of Vietnam needs to continue to better implement the guidelines of "accompanying the nation", "good parishioners are good citizens", and at the same time, Catholic parishioners and dignitaries in Vietnam need to continue to actively contribute to the development of the country and the Church. During the visit, the President met with representatives of the Vietnamese community in Austria, Italy and Europe; encouraged the community to uphold the spirit of solidarity, preserve cultural identity, and actively integrate to contribute to affirming the position of the Community in the host country, contributing to building a bridge of friendship between Vietnam and other countries, and welcomed the establishment of the Alliance of Presidents of Vietnamese Associations in Italy. The leaders of the countries affirmed to continue to pay attention and create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community to integrate well and act as a bridge for cooperation between Vietnam and other countries. With the above important results, it can be said that the official visit to the Republic of Austria, the State visit to the Republic of Italy and the visit to the Vatican by the President have achieved very good results, creating an important driving force to promote the bilateral cooperation relationship to become increasingly deep, effective, stable and sustainable. Reporter: Thank you, Minister!
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