On the 20th September 2018, at the headquarter of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy had an official meeting with Mr. Vincenzo De Luca, General Director for Economic and Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, accompanied by Mrs. Cecilia Picioni, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Dante Brandi, Consulate General of Italy in Vietnam. From the Vietnamese side, there are representatives of leaders of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, the Copyright Office of Viet Nam, the Cinema Department, the National Library.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy and Mr. Vincenzo De Luca discussed the cultural cooperation of the two countries as well as the collaborative orientation for promoting and widening cultural cooperation in the future. Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy highly appreciated the strategic partnership of Vietnam and Italy, in which cultural cooperation plays a very important role. Deputy Minister emphasized that Vietnam is also interested in co-developing tourism with Italy. In fact, Vietnam has exempted unilateral visas for Italian tourists to Vietnam less than 15 days from 2016, which led to significant increase in the number of Italian tourists to Vietnam.

Mr Vincenzo De Luca thanked Deputy Minister Trinh Thi Thuy for welcoming the delegation and also appreciated the cooperation between the two countries. He proposed a number of contents to expand the cooperation in the near future as cooperation in the creative industries, fashion, copyrights, sports, heritage management... During this occasion, the Italian Embassy in Vietnam organized the first Italian film week in Viet Nam, in the framework of celebrating 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, screening the film "Perfect Stranger", one of the most successful films of Italy with the presence of famous director Paolo Genovese.

After the meeting, the two sides have signed the Executive Program of Cultural Cooperation for the period 2018-2021, following the success of the Executive Program for the period 2013-2016.