HCMC – Tran Thanh Man, chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly, has proposed that Italy grant visa exemptions for Vietnamese citizens and support efforts to have the European Commission remove the yellow card warning on Vietnam’s seafood exports.
The proposals were raised during a meeting with Licia Ronzulli, vice president of the Italian Senate, in Rome, Italy on April 14 (local time), as part of efforts to deepen ties under the Vietnam-Italy strategic partnership.
The NA chairman said facilitating travel and strengthening investment protection would be key to unlocking cooperation potential in the digital and green economy. Vietnam has called on Italy to introduce visa-free entry for its citizens to boost exchanges of experts and tourists, while also urging remaining EU member states to ratify the EU–Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).
On trade, Vietnam stressed that the early removal of the yellow card on illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, along with its exclusion from the EU’s tax non-cooperative list, would be crucial for its seafood sector to fully benefit from the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.
Addressing these regulatory hurdles would help ensure more sustainable and balanced growth in bilateral trade, officials said.
For her part, Ronzulli affirmed that Italy views Vietnam as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region and pledged support for the effective implementation of bilateral and EU-level trade agreements, as well as efforts to ease technical barriers facing Vietnamese exports.
Italian businesses are showing growing interest in Vietnam’s renewable energy and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, seen as priority areas for translating high-level political commitments into concrete investment projects.
Bilateral trade between Vietnam and Italy totaled over US$7.3 billion in 2025, maintaining steady growth and laying the groundwork for a target of exceeding US$8 billion in 2026.
