The fifth meeting of a joint committee on economic cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development took place in Rome on December 4.  

 

The annual event was co-hosted by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong and Italian Under-Secretary of State for Economic Development Michele Geraci.

 

The two sides agreed that while Vietnam-Italy economic and trade ties have progressed well in recent years, they still fall short of their potential.

 

In the first 10 months of 2018, Italy – with 90 valid projects worth over 388 million USD – was ranked 31st among the 129 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Italian investors injected their capital into 12 out of the 21 sectors that receive foreign funds in Vietnam.

 

The sides raised measures for improved cooperation in several spheres, including footwear, garment-textile, renewable energy-electricity, farming produce-food processing, science-technology, and tourism. 

 

The meeting was rounded off with the signing of its minutes. Both sides agreed to hold the sixth meeting in Vietnam next year.

 

As part the meeting, on the morning of the same day, the MoIT delegation and the Italian centre for agro-fishery product distribution (CAR) held an agricultural cooperation conference. It was an occasion for participating Vietnamese businesses to learn about Italian distribution systems for agro-fishery products, as well as the standards set for goods to be imported to Italy and the EU. They also gained experience from Italy’s development and management of wholesale markets. 

 

The conference saw the CAR and Vietnam’s Proton company sign a memorandum of understanding on future cooperation. –VNA