Over the past forty years since the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (now the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam) and the Italian Republic established official diplomatic relations (23 March 1973 – 23 March 2013), bilateral relations have been consolidated and developed. With the bilateral relations elevated to strategic partnership, a new chapter has been ushered in the history of relations of the two countries and peoples.

On the relations between Viet Nam and Italy, the first thing to be mentioned is the close sentiment and unity preserved for each other over the past years, especially the precious support of the Italian people and progressive movements for the Vietnamese people in the most difficult period of the struggle for national independence and unification. The political and diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Italy have been constantly strengthened and developed. The two countries have exchanged high-level delegations as a basis for cooperation in concrete fields. Particularly, the Joint Statement featuring the two countries’ establishment of their strategic partnership reached during the State visit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to Italy in January 2013 marked a new momentum in bilateral relations.

Being a leading trade partner of Viet Nam in the EU, despite difficulties in the current economic situation of the world and of each country, two-way trade exchange has increased, reaching US$ 1.5 billion in 2009, US$ 2.5 billion in 2011 and US$ 2.8 in 2012. There has been a positive change in Italian investment in Viet Nam. By November 2012, Italy ranked 32 out of 94 countries and territories which have invested in Viet Nam with 45 investment projects and a total capital of US$ 198 million. In development cooperation, Italy started to provide Official Development Aid to Viet Nam in mid 80s of the 20^th century in the forms of preferential loans, emergency aid, and bilateral non-refundable aid through international organizations such as UNIDO and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

As a country with many world cultural heritages, Italy is ready to promote cooperation and assist Viet Nam in preservation, museum and human resource development. Cooperation in education and training and scientific research has been given special attention by both sides and recorded important results. Many localities in Italy established sisterhood and cooperation with Vietnamese counterparts such as Ha Noi-Rome, Ho Chi Minh city-Milan, Hai Phong-Genoa, and Hue-Venice. In these regions of Viet Nam, there are networks of Italian friends working in political, cultural, educational, economic and sport areas which constitute important factors for promotion of cooperation between the two sides in each concrete filed, and contribute to diversify the common picture of bilateral cooperation.

Building upon achievements in the cooperation over the past 40 years, with determination and efforts of both sides, Viet Nam and Italy have jointly worked towards future with new cooperation potentials. The two sides agreed to continue increasing the exchange of high-level delegations, including both official visits as well as contacts on the sidelines of international and regional fora.

To harness economic potentials of the two countries, both sides agreed on intensified bilateral investment, economic and trade; on mechanism of regular and effective consultation and exchange of information on economic cooperation between the two countries.

On development cooperation, the two sides concluded a new protocol on development cooperation for 2013–2015. Both sides agreed to enhancing cooperation in the fields of cultural and education and training.

The potentials for cooperation between the two sides are great. Positive achievements made in the past period have brought about practical benefits of the two countries. These are a firm foundation for the prospect of development of Viet Nam-Italy relations in the future./.