Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong and his spouse Phan Thi Thanh Tam departed from Hanoi on Sunday morning for an official visit to Austria, a state visit to Italy, and another to the Vatican.

The visits, taking place from Sunday to next Friday, are made at the invitations of Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Italian President Sergio Mattarella, and Pope Francis.

President Thuong and his spouse are accompanied by Chairman of the Presidential Office Le Khanh Hai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, in addition to some Vietnamese officials and diplomats.

This will be the first Austria visit by a Vietnamese state president in the past 15 years and the first visits to Italy and the Vatican by a Vietnamese state leader in the past seven years.

President Thuong’s Italy visit marks an important milestone as the two nations are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership.

The Vietnamese state leader will hold talks with Austrian and Italian officials to discuss measures to beef up cooperation in multiple fields, such as trade, investment, national defense, national security, employment and training, renewable energy, and people-to-people exchange.

He will also work with some Italian officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Besides, the top Vietnamese official will meet with Pope Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican.

Regarding the bilateral relations between Vietnam and Austria, the latter was among the first Western nations to establish diplomatic ties with the Southeast Asian country in December 1972, when the war in Vietnam was still not over.

Both sides have maintained high-level visits and phone talks during the given period, making their bilateral ties flourish over the past five decades.

Two-way trade reached US$2.9 billion last year, with Austria being among the top EU buyers of Vietnamese products and Vietnam being among Austria’s top trade partners in ASEAN.

As for Italy, this EU nation and Vietnam established their diplomatic relations on March 23, 1973 and upgraded them to a strategic partnership in January 2013.

Vietnam and Italy also arranged regular high-level visits.

Late last year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the EU-ASEAN commemorative summit, taking place in Belgium on December 14, 2022.

Trade between Vietnam and Italy surpassed $6.2 billion last year, with Italy currently being Vietnam’s third-largest trade partner in the EU and ranking 36th among the 141 countries and regions pouring investments in Vietnam.

When it comes to the Vatican, Pham Thu Hang, spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told a press briefing on Thursday that the ties between Vietnam and the Vatican have reaped positive outcomes over the time.

Both sides have maintained the exchange of high-ranking delegations and meetings of the Vietnam - Holy See Joint Working Group.

This Joint Working Group on March 31 this year held the 10th-round meeting in the Vatican, co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang and Monsignor Miroslaw Wachowski, Under-Secretary for the Holy See's Relations with States.

The Holy See has also sent its non-resident Special Envoy to Vietnam since 2011.

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