NA Chairman’s visit to deepen ties with Hungary in post-pandemic period: Ambassador

Budapest (VNA) – The upcoming Hungary visit by National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue aims to further deepen the comprehensive partnership between the two countries as well as the two parliaments in the context of post-pandemic economic recovery and development in both countries, Vietnamese Ambassador to Hungary Nguyen Thi Bich Thao told Vietnam News Agency.

She said that Vietnam and Hungary have shared a 72-year partnership and traditional cooperation in all fields including education-training, law and justice, culture, sports, and people-to-people exchanges. 
  
The diplomat noted that Hungary considers Vietnam an important partner in Southeast Asia, and the two countries lifted their ties to a comprehensive partnership in September 2018.

The  parliaments of the two countries have also kept a good relationship with regular meetings and exchanges at all levels, while showing close and effective cooperation and mutual support at multilateral parliamentarian forums, she said.

According to Ambassador Thao, the Vietnamese top legislator's visit will be a chance for senior leaders of Vietnam and Hungary to reaffirm their political commitments in continuing to promote the bilateral partnership, contributing to the economic recovery and sustainable development after COVID-19 in each country, while strengthening collaboration in global issues such as climate change.

According to the diplomat, Hungary has actively pushed for the approval of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and become the first EU member to ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

She highlighted that trade between the two countries surged strongly to nearly 1.3 billion USD in 2020. In 2021, despite COVID-19 impacts, two-way trade still reached 1.1 billion USD, with improved balance.  

Labour is also a promising cooperation area for the two countries, she said, noting that since 2018, more than 1,000 Vietnamese workers have been sent to work in Hungary.

Education-training has remained a traditional cooperation area between the two countries, with nearly 4,000 Vietnamese engineers and post-graduates trained in Hungary in the 1950-1989 period. Hungary has provided 200 scholarships to Vietnamese students each year since 2018.

The two sides also signed an agreement in cooperation in culture, sports and tourism in 2013 and have worked together to organise many cultural collaboration activities. 

Over the past 20 years, Hungary has shared its experience with Vietnam in legal and judicial areas. Recently, Hungary has helped Vietnamese judicial sector train personnel and strengthen the application of IT during its operations, said Ambassador Thao.

During COVID-19, the two sides showed strong friendship, solidarity and mutual support in stamping out the pandemic by providing each other with masks, COVID-19 vaccines and medical equipment for pandemic prevention and control.

Currently, about 6,000 Vietnamese people are living in Hungary and helping promote Vietnamese culture and traditions in Vietnam, said the ambassador.

The diplomat underlined that NA Chairman Hue’s visit demonstrates Vietnam’s wish to further deepen and expand the ties between the two parliaments.

During the visit, top legislators of both sides are scheduled to sign an agreement on the strengthening of regular and substantial cooperation between the two parliaments in a new period to replace the old one signed in 2008. The deal will focus on increasing meetings and contacts between the leaders, agencies of the two parliaments and the two friendly parliamentarians’ groups; organising seminars and talks on issues of mutual concern in the framework of official visits by the parliament leaders of the two countries; exchanging information on legislative activities, bilateral and multilateral treaties to which the two sides are members; and strengthening contacts, consultation, coordination and mutual support at multilateral parliamentary forums.

Vietnam hopes to learn from experience of Hungary on safe adaptation to the pandemic and post-pandemic economic recovery, and explore the European country’s strengths in processing technology, agricultural product freezing, as well as Hungary's policies on carbon emission reduction, clean energy, green economy, in order to speed up its socio-economic recovery and development, said Ambassador Thao. 

She said that the two top legislators will attend a seminar on improving the legal framework on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing renewable energy and green economy. They will also seek ways to bolster bilateral economic, trade and investment partnership, take advantage of opportunities brought by the EVFTA, and increase two-way trade turnover by 10% per year. 

NA Chairman Hue will also attend a Vietnam - Hungary economic, trade and investment seminar, and meet the Vietnamese business community in Europe.

The Vietnamese NA leader will engage in a number of activities to strengthen bilateral ties in education, law and justice, defence, development cooperation and other promising sectors such as labour and tourism, Ambassador Thao said./.