Vietnam and Italy have a lot of opportunities for cooperation as more and more Italian businesses are targeting the Southeast Asian country, said a Vietnamese diplomat.

Speaking at a seminar themed “Vietnam in Umbria” held by the Confindustria in Perugia province, Italy’s Umbria region in Rome on June 18, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Hoang Long said the economic and trade ties between Vietnam and Italy have yet to match the two countries’ potential.

However, in the context of the world economic turmoil, the two sides are marking every effort to boost their bilateral ties in all areas, especially in economics, Long said.

Vietnam is fully aware of the need to change its growth model, restructure the economy and take strong measures to promote foreign investment and support local businesses to operate overseas, the diplomat said.

He also stressed the significance of Italy ’s policies to support Vietnam in training Vietnamese engineers and workers, helping them access to Italy ’ modern equipment and machines.

He proposed the Italian side provide more export credits to Italian businesses who want to cooperate with their Vietnamese partners.
Italian businesses and associations should present their wish to engage in cooperation with their Vietnamese partners to their government to receive the export credits, Long said.

Long said he plans to accelerate the establishment of personnel training centre of the two countries to address the shortage of qualified engineers and workers in Vietnam .

In 2013, Italy and Vietnam will mark the 40 th founding anniversary of their diplomatic ties, thus Vietnam hopes to organise a broad range of important events in Italian cities, Long said.-VNA