Vietnam places importance on bolstering comprehensive cooperation with Hungary

Tran Thanh Man, standing vice chairman of the National Assembly (NA), made the statement during talks with Marta Matrai, first officer of the Hungarian NA, in Hanoi on January 20.

Upon welcoming the guest, Man said that this marked the first foreign delegation to pay a working visit to the Vietnamese legislature in 2022, representing a positive start in the parliamentary relations between the two sides, as well as the Parliaments of other EU member states.

The Vietnamese NA hailed the remarkable progress made in relations between the two countries over recent times, especially efforts to upgrade the relationship to a comprehensive partnership during the visit to Hungary by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2018. This served to demonstrate the determination of their leaders to promote bilateral ties, Man told his guest.

He outlined his appreciation for Hungary making Vietnam a priority partner in its official development assistance (ODA) policy with the commitment of 440 million EUR (US$500 million) in preferential loans aimed at carrying out co-operation projects in both nations's priority areas.

Considering education and training a traditional field of bilateral collaboration, particularly as thousands of Vietnamese officials and engineers have been trained in Hungary, the Vietnamese legislator thanked the European country for granting 200 scholarships annually to Vietnamese students as a contribution to training high-quality human resources which can benefit Vietnam.

He also thanked the Hungarian State for offering favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community based in Hungary, describing its members as a contributory factor in tightening the friendship and co-operation between the two sides and peoples.

In response, Matrai affirmed that Vietnam represents the most important trade partner of Hungary in Southeast Asia.

She voiced her hope that the Vietnamese NA will provide support to realise co-operation agreements between the Governments, ministries, and sectors of the two countries.

With regard to co-operation between the two legislatures, both host and guest expressed their hope that the two sides will maintain contact and co-ordination. In addition, they are optimistic that they will hold joint seminars to share legislative experience to further develop bilateral collaboration in a substantive and effective manner in the coming time.