A seminar was held in Hanoi on June 8 to highlight the potential and introduce policies to develop industrial connections with Italy ’s Tuscany region and create cooperation opportunities for businesses of the two countries.

Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Lorenzo Angeloni said joint ventures between Italian and Vietnamese businesses would enjoy preferential treatment from Italy ’s law on development cooperation, and businesses of the two countries should better understand cooperative fields, including industry and public-private partnership.

However, the ambassador said that Vietnam needs to create a better environment in order to encourage Italian investors.

Stefano Giovanelli, an Italian expert, industrial policies and small and medium enterprise development, introduced Tuscany ’s experience in developing areas of leather and footwear, woodwork, fashion, renewable energy and nanotechnology.

He also said that Toscany has demands for cooperation with Vietnam in these areas and the region’s governor and a business delegation planned to visit Vietnam in November.

Attending the seminar, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said that cooperation between Vietnam and Italy has taken new development steps, helping to develop strengths in trade and investment cooperation.

However, two-way trade turnover between the two sides has not matched their potential and advantages.

The Vietnamese official expressed his belief that the seminar would provide information for policy-making agencies of the two countries to develop plans to help small and medium sized enterprises.

At present, Italy has 21 valid investment projects in Vietnam with a combined capital of 76 million EUR. These projects are expected to be completed in the next two or three years./.