Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung visits Italy and the Vatican

The Vietnamese delegation had meetings and worked with the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs , leaders of major parties in Italy and met with Pope Francis.

Đồng chí Lê Hoài Trung, Bí thư Trung ương Đảng, Trưởng ban Đối ngoại Trung ương. (Nguồn: TTXVN)

Comrade Le Hoai Trung, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Party Central Committee's External Relations Commission. (Source: VNA)

From January 16-19, comrade Le Hoai Trung, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Head of the Party Central Committee's External Relations Commission, led a delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam to visit and work in Italy and the Vatican.

During the working trip, the Vietnamese delegation had meetings and worked with the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, leaders of the ruling parties, major Italian parties such as the Brothers of Italy Party, the Formosa Party, the Democratic Party, the General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party, the General Secretary of the Communist Reestablishment Party, the Chairmen of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and a number of parliamentarians representing the parties. The delegation met with Pope Francis, worked with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Vatican.

During the working sessions with the leaders of the Government, National Assembly and political parties of Italy, the delegation highly appreciated the positive development of the strategic partnership between the two countries, discussed the achievements in nearly 40 years of Doi Moi in Vietnam, as well as the development and foreign policy of the Party and State of Vietnam.

The delegation expressed gratitude for the valuable support of the Communist Party and the Italian people for the Vietnamese people during the two resistance wars, and suggested that the two countries actively implement agreements, expand cooperation in accordance with the potential and requirements of the two countries, and improve the effectiveness of party cooperation.

At the Vatican, the delegation affirmed the policy of the Vietnamese Party and State on ensuring freedom of belief and religion, information on the development of Catholicism in Vietnam, and valuing the contributions of Vietnamese Catholics to the cause of national construction and defense.

Vietnam expressed its joy at the important new steps in the Vietnam-Vatican relationship, including the agreement on the status of saints in Vietnam, highly appreciated the sentiment towards Vietnam, the support for promoting bilateral relations and the Pope's teachings to Vietnamese Catholics on expressing their identity as good Catholics and good citizens. The delegation reiterated the invitation of the leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam for the Pope to visit Vietnam.

The partners congratulated Vietnam on its achievements under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong; and considered Vietnam a successful development model.

The leaders of the Italian Government, Parliament, political parties and the Vatican also expressed their appreciation for the position, their desire to continue to promote relations with Vietnam, and their appreciation of Vietnam's policies and guidelines. The Pope appreciated and accepted the invitation to visit Vietnam, and requested that relevant agencies of both sides coordinate to implement arrangements for the visit. The Italian agencies also discussed specific cooperation activities in the coming time.

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