Rome (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Cao Chinh Thien toured the European country’s Veneto region and its capital c🍌ity of Venice, whose officials voiced their readiness to expand cooperation with Vietnam.

Meeting with Thien, the Veneto region’s Minister of EU Programmes, Tourism and International Trade Federico Caner spoke about local advantages such as tourism, industry, shipping and renewable energy. He said Veneto wants to foster cooperation in all fields with Vietnam, especially southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. He gave the ambassador a draft agreement pairing Veneto with Ba Ria – Vung Tau. He expressed his hope that the two sides will discuss the document’s content and conduct the signing as soon as possible. The regional minister noted that Veneto hopes Ba Ria-Vung Tau will become a gateway for Italian goods to enter Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He added that a Veneto delegation will pay a working visit to seek cooperation opportunities with Vietnam in early March. Ambassador Thien said he highly values the Italian region’s activeness in tightening partnership with Ba Ria-Vung Tau and choosing Vietnam as an investment destination. The two countries share many similarities and should utilise their potential in order to develop. Locality-to-locality affiliation is an effective and practical cooperation channel supported by the Vietnamese Government to strengthen the nations’ strategic partnership, he said. The diplomat also vowed to forward the draft agreement to Ba Ria-Vung Tau, suggesting Veneto work with the Vietnamese province in its upcoming visit to speed up the signing. At another working session, Paola Mar – council member for tourism of Venice – said her city prioritises tourism and cultural cooperation with Vietnam, adding that she was impressed by the Vietnamese land, people and diversity of cultural heritage. Vietnam has harmonised historical elements with cultural and natural beauty, as well as traditional characteristics with modern features. These are advantages for boosting cooperation between Vietnam and Venice, which is strong in tourism, preservation, environmental protection and renewable energy, she noted. The Venice administration supports an enhanced partnership with Vietnam, Paola Mar said, adding that the city recently set up an economic promotion centre to facilitate investment in Venice and local companies’ investment in other countries, including Vietnam. She affirmed that her city’s administration will build a bridge between the two sides’ business communities. For his part, Ambassador Thien said he appreciated Paola Mar’s positive assessment of and Venice’s priorities given to Vietnam, highlighting the sound development of collaboration between his country and Italy, as well as Venice in particular. The Vietnamese and Italian peoples have a good impression of each other, he said, calling for increased connections in economics, culture and education to bolster mutual understanding and comprehensive relations. The diplomat promised his utmost efforts to realise Venice-Vietnam collaboration ideals. He asked local authorities to consider concrete cooperation activities such as inviting Vietnam to join in local cultural and tourism festivals. Paola Mar said she will discuss with the Venice authorities about inviting the Southeast Asian nation to the local traditional boat race and carnival. Venice has cooperated with Vietnam on shipping, education, tourism, culture and the environment.-VNA