The President and his wife arrived in Hanoi, successfully concluding their visit to Austria, Italy and the Vatican.

This morning, July 29, the plane carrying President Vo Van Thuong and his wife landed at Noi Bai airport, successfully concluding the official visit to Austria, the state visit to Italy and the Vatican.

Chủ tịch nước Võ Văn Thưởng và Phu nhân kết thúc tốt đẹp chuyến thăm Áo, Italy và Toà thánh Vatican

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife successfully concluded their visit to Austria, Italy and the Vatican. (Photo: Nguyen Hong)

The official visit of President Vo Van Thuong and his wife Phan Thi Thanh Tam and the high-level delegation from July 23-28 was a great success in many aspects, from the content of the exchange between the President and high-ranking leaders of the two countries and the signed documents.

In Austria, the Austrian President held a solemn welcoming ceremony with the service and parade of the honor guard and honor guard, including a large number of military personnel welcoming him according to the special diplomatic protocol of the Austrian State.

President Vo Van Thuong and President Alexander Van der Bellen held talks and discussed bilateral relations. The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the substantial and effective development after more than half a century of traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in many fields such as politics - diplomacy, trade - investment, development cooperation, culture, education - training, vocational training, science - technology, and people-to-people exchange.

In order to increase political trust and exploit the great cooperation potential of the two countries, the two Heads of State agreed to increase delegation exchanges at all levels, especially at high levels and through all channels, effectively deploy existing cooperation mechanisms, and at the same time study and establish cooperation mechanisms suitable to the new situation.

The Austrian President emphasized that Vietnam is Austria's largest partner in Southeast Asia, hoping that both sides will pay attention to improving the bilateral trade balance.

President Vo Van Thuong asked Austria to soon complete the procedures for ratifying the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) to facilitate equal and mutually beneficial investment relations between the two sides; and asked Austria to support and urge the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the IUU yellow card on Vietnamese seafood, creating favorable conditions for Vietnam to export this product to the EU.

The President met with President of the Austrian Senate Claudia Arpa; Acting Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Najat Mokhtar; visited City Hall and met with the Mayor of Vienna; visited Burgenland state and met with State Premier Hans Peter Doskozil; received the President of the Austria-Vietnam Friendship Association and Austrian friends.

The Head of State of Vietnam also met with the Vietnamese community in Austria and Europe, visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Austria and received Vietnamese ambassadors in European countries that share borders with Austria. The President also visited and talked with the family of Dr. Nguyen Duy Ha, a physicist.

In Italy, the official welcoming ceremony was solemnly held with the honor guard accompanying the car of the Head of State of Vietnam and his wife. The event was held at the Presidential Palace - the magnificent Palazzo del Quirinale Palace with many typical Italian architectural features.

The two leaders held talks, discussed and agreed on major orientations and measures to strengthen the Vietnam - Italy Strategic Partnership. The Italian President was pleased to announce that the Italian Parliament ratified the EVIPA Agreement on the same day as President Vo Van Thuong's State visit to Italy, contributing to creating a foundation for Italy to increase investment in Vietnam.

President Vo Van Thuong thanked and emphasized that this is very good news and believes that the ratification of this Agreement will bring benefits to businesses of the two countries and peoples, contributing to promoting stronger trade and investment cooperation in the near future. President Vo Van Thuong asked Italy to speak up so that the remaining EU countries can soon ratify this Agreement.

The President met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; President of the Italian Senate Ignazio La Russa; and Mayor of Rome Roberto Gualtieri. The Vietnamese Head of State also received political party leaders in Italy, including General Secretary of the Communist Party Mauro Alboresi, Vice President of the Italian Democratic Party Chiara Gribaudo, and General Secretary of the Communist Restoration Party Maurizio Acerbo. The President also met with the Vietnamese community in Italy and Italy's close friends of Vietnam.

At the Vatican, the President met with Pope Francis and the Holy See's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

President Vo Van Thuong affirmed that the Party and State of Vietnam consistently implement the policy of respecting and ensuring freedom of belief and religion and constantly improving the legal framework to facilitate religious activities, including Catholicism. The President welcomed the positive contributions of the Vietnamese Catholic community in charitable activities, education, health care, and vocational training, and hoped that Vietnamese Catholics would continue to contribute to the country's construction and development.

In particular, on the occasion of the visit of President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong to the Vatican on July 27, based on the results of the 10th Meeting of the Vietnam - Vatican Joint Working Group on March 31, 2023 at the Vatican, with the common desire to continue promoting relations between the two sides, the two sides officially announced that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Holy See had approved the "Agreement on the Regulations on the Operations of the Permanent Representative and the Office of the Permanent Representative of the Holy See in Vietnam".

The working trip of the President and his wife to Europe was a great success and once again sent a message of Vietnam's readiness and desire to further deepen multifaceted cooperation with Austria, Italy and the Vatican. The visit contributed to creating new momentum for relations between Vietnam and other countries in all fields.

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