In 2007 the bilateral political dialogue with Vietnam entered a new phase after Vietnamese Prime Minister Dung’s visit to Italy and meetings with former Prime Minister Prodi and Economic Development Minister Bersani. This was only the second visit to Italy of a Vietnamese Head of Government, after Vo Van Kiet’s mission in 1997.
   In order to intensify bilateral relations, Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs Vernetti in Hanoi in April 2007 introduced the festival “Italian Rainbow in Vietnam”, aimed at presenting to the Vietnamese public a new and richer view of Italy, its enduring traditions, cultural highlights and recent trends. The festival “Italian Rainbow in Vietnam” closed in October 2007 with the visit of former Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema, Undersecretary for Foreign Commerce Agostini, and a delegation of ministers.
   In December 2007 on the occasion of the visit to Italy of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Van Tho, the first of the consultations planned in the Memorandum of Agreement on political cooperation signed in April 2007 by former Undersecretary Vernetti were held.   Berlusconi’s Government has re-confirmed its will to maintain the relationship with Vietnam. Important initiatives in political and economic fields have been planned during visits to Vietnam by Italian Government representatives, and some of these initiatives are now being implemented.
  Positive progress has also been made in parliamentary relations, which intensified in 2005 with the visit to Vietnam of former Chamber Minister Casini. Speaker of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Van An returned the visit in March of the same year, and on that occasion it was decided that a mixed inter-parliamentary group charged with following and developing relationships between the two parliaments should be created. During the June 2007 meeting at the House of Commons between Vice-President of the Vietnamese National Assembly Truong and Vice-President of the Chamber Leoni, the need for further strengthening of parliamentary relations was agreed upon, and a delegation of MPs visited Vietnam on January 2008

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