On 4 and 5 September, two important Business Forums organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be held in Vietnam and South Korea to strengthen Italy’s economic and commercial presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The meetings will be opened by the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Made in Italy, Valentino Valentini.
Vietnam and the ASEAN area are a priority in the Action Plan for Italian exports to high-potential non-EU markets, presented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani last March. Italian exports to Vietnam grew by +26% in 2024, and trade in the first four months of this year recorded +11.5%. Vietnam is our leading supplier in the ASEAN area (accounting for around 40% of Italian imports from the area). South Korea is a mature market with high potential, with which Italy has strong economic ties and the opportunity to forge solid industrial partnerships in high value-added sectors. It is our third largest market in Asia-Pacific, after China and Japan, accounting for approximately 12% of Italian exports in the region, as well as the leading economy for exports in the region in relation to population.
“We have already organised more than 50 economic partnership initiatives since the beginning of the year,’ said Minister Tajani, ‘and now we are returning to Asia with conviction, after two events in India, to offer our companies more and more opportunities for growth, making our foreign trade more secure and resilient”. The meetings organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are already included in the Ministry’s new organisation, which will be consolidated by the reform of the Italian Foreign Ministry, recently approved by the Council of Ministers and which will formally come into effect on 1 January 2026.
