The Vietnamese Cooperatives Association (VCA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Italy’s LegaCoop Federation of Social Cooperatives on the direction for their cooperation in the near future.

The deal was reached during a visit to Italy from Nov 3-7 by a VCA delegation, led by the association’s president Dao Xuan Can.

Under the MoU, the two sides will share experience in the establishment and development of cooperatives, cooperate in human resources training and work together to facilitate business ties among their members.

They will set up working groups to draft detailed plans for the cooperation.

The two sides also held a round-table discussion on the potential of cooperation on production and trade of consumer goods between both countries.

The VCA president said that the visit is the first step of a cooperation mechanism between the two organisations, which is expected to help raise two-way trade between both countries.

According to Can, the two sides are planning to hold a Week of Vietnamese Goods in Italy next year.-VNA