HCMC, July 28th, 2021 – Italy and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic capital and largest city, renew their commitment to an even closer collaboration, in the spirit of the strategic partnership between Italy and Vietnam signed in 2013. This is the main outcome of the farewell meeting between the outgoing Consul General of Italy, Dante Brandi, and the President of HCMC People’s Committee, Nguyen Thanh Phong, held today in videoconference due to the measures imposed to contain the pandemic by Covid-19.
President Phong expressed satisfaction with the significant activities undertaken by the Consulate General in the period 2018-2021, with particular regard to the collaboration offered in sectors such as scientific and technological cooperation (6 of the 11 projects included in the executive program of scientific and technological cooperation between Italy and Vietnam are held with academic and research institutions in Ho Chi Minh City), the preservation of cultural heritage, the dissemination of the Italian language and culture.
Reference has also been made to the intensity of the economic-commercial relations between Italy and the metropolitan area of Ho Chi Minh City, where important Italian groups such as Generali, Datalogic, GIVI, Bonfiglioli, Danieli, Tenova, are active with direct investments and operating activities. President Phong and Consul General Brandi shared how the further development of the existing economic relations will be facilitated by the free trade agreement between the EU and Vietnam that entered into force in August last year, as well as thanks to the dynamism of this city, which contributes about a third to the GDP of Vietnam, one of the few Asian countries that managed to grow economically even during the pandemic.
Ho Chi Minh City is the epicenter of the fourth wave of infections from Covid-19 that is hitting Vietnam. To this regard, President Phong confirmed the commitment of the city and national health authorities to an intensified vaccination activity, mainly through supplies of the COVAX program, to which Italy is one of the major contributors. Vaccinations will also affect communities of resident foreigners, including Italians.
