6 steps to deepen Vietnam - Hungary relations

During the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam will never forget the valuable support and assistance that Hungary has given to Vietnam in the past struggle for independence and national reunification, and in the present day; he thanked Hungary for being the country that has committed the most preferential credit to Vietnam in the Central and Eastern European region with 500 million USD; and for providing vaccines during the most difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic, contributing to Vietnam's early economic recovery.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Hungarian President Sulyok Tamas.

PHOTO: NHAT BAC

The Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening relations with traditional friendly countries in the Central and Eastern European region, with Hungary being a top priority.

President Sulyok Tamas expressed his pleasure at making an official visit to Vietnam; he greatly admired Vietnam's tremendous and historically significant achievements after nearly 40 years of reform; he highly appreciated Vietnam's increasingly important role and position in the region and on the international stage; he believed that the path Vietnam is taking is entirely correct; and he affirmed that Vietnam has always been a leading important partner of Hungary in ASEAN.

The Hungarian President fully agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's proposal on six groups of measures to strengthen cooperation in order to deepen bilateral relations, including: enhancing political trust through continued promotion of delegation exchanges, thereby boosting cooperation in various fields; in the context of complex global developments, both sides need to continue to unite, coordinate closely, and support each other in multilateral forums, supporting the position of resolving disputes through peaceful means, based on respect for international law, to consolidate a peaceful and stable environment for development in each region and the world.

Strengthening the pillar of trade and investment cooperation in the bilateral relationship, convening the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation between the two countries soon, and striving to achieve a trade turnover of 2 billion USD as soon as possible.

Strengthen development cooperation between the two countries, and propose and effectively implement projects utilizing preferential credit from the Hungarian Government for Vietnam.

Strengthening educational cooperation is a traditional area of collaboration between the two countries, particularly in the fields of nuclear energy, electricity, pharmaceuticals, tourism, and climate change.

Strengthening cooperation in labor, one of the areas with great potential for mutual support between the two sides, and enhancing cooperation in culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, with a focus on coordinating activities to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2025.

The Hungarian President affirmed that he would urge the remaining EU countries to ratify the Vietnam-EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) as soon as possible, and support and encourage the European Commission (EC) to lift the "IUU Yellow Card" against Vietnamese seafood exports.

Both sides agreed to continue effectively implementing the agreements between the two countries, strengthening cooperation in traditional areas such as trade and investment, science and technology, education and training, defense and security, medicine and pharmaceuticals, culture and tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, while expanding cooperation into areas where both sides have strengths and complementary needs such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and labor.

The Prime Minister expressed his gratitude and requested that Hungarian authorities at all levels continue to facilitate the Vietnamese community in Hungary's increasingly deep integration into local society, making positive contributions to the local economy and society, and actively promoting their important role as a bridge for the traditional friendship between the two countries.

The two leaders affirmed that the Vietnamese student body that has studied in Hungary is a valuable resource for developing bilateral relations.