Vietnam gives top priority to strengthening relations with Hungary

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets with Hungarian President Sulyok Tamas. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

On the morning of May 29th, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Hungarian President Sulyok Tamas, who is on an official visit to Vietnam from May 27th to 29th.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh warmly welcomed President Sulyok Tamas and the high-level Hungarian State delegation on their official visit to Vietnam, emphasizing the visit's special significance in the context of the two countries celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations (1950-2025) and Vietnam celebrating its 80th anniversary of national founding.

The Prime Minister reiterated the positive impressions and results of his official visit to Hungary in January 2024; expressing confidence that President Sulyok Tamas's visit to Vietnam this time will create new momentum to promote the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and Hungary, developing strongly in various fields, for the benefit of the people of both countries, and for peace, stability, solidarity, cooperation, and sustainable development in the region and the world.

The Prime Minister 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 of national construction and development; thanked Hungary for being the country that 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.

The Prime Minister emphasized that in implementing its foreign policy of peace, independence, self-reliance, diversification, and multilateralization of international relations, as a friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community, Vietnam always attaches importance to strengthening relations with traditional friendly countries in the Central and Eastern European region, with Hungary being a top priority.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the meeting with Hungarian President Sulyok Tamas. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

In an atmosphere of friendship and trust, the Prime Minister shared how Vietnam, from a country devastated by war, surrounded by embargoes and facing numerous difficulties, has risen to develop with many outstanding socio-economic achievements.

Vietnam's GDP reached US$473 billion in 2024, per capita income approached the world's upper-middle level, and its happiness index increased by 11 ranks in 2024 and by 8 ranks this year. Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with 194 countries and participates in 17 FTAs connecting with 60 of the world's leading economies.

The Prime Minister shared Vietnam's major strategic directions, which include three pillars: building a socialist democracy, a socialist rule of law state of the people, by the people, and for the people, and a socialist-oriented market economy; implementing three strategic breakthroughs in improving institutions, developing infrastructure and high-quality human resources; developing an independent and self-reliant economy based on science, technology, and innovation; developing the private sector; streamlining the organizational structure; and promoting deep international integration with the goal of becoming a high-income developed country by 2045.

President Sulyok Tamas expressed his pleasure at making an official visit to Vietnam; admired Vietnam's great and historically significant achievements after nearly 40 years of reform; highly appreciated Vietnam's increasingly important role and position in the region and on the international stage; and believed that the path Vietnam is taking is entirely correct.

The President affirmed that Vietnam has always been Hungary's top priority partner in ASEAN.

Hungarian President Sulyok Tamas speaks at a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

The President fully agreed with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's proposal on six groups of enhanced cooperation measures to further deepen bilateral relations, including:

Strengthening political trust through continued promotion of delegation exchanges, thereby fostering 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, in order 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, propose and effectively implement projects using 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, climate change, etc.

Strengthening cooperation on labor, one of the areas with great potential for mutual support between the two sides;

Strengthening 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 European Union (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.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh 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 playing an important bridging role in 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.

(VNA/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/viet-nam-uu-tien-hang-dau-tang-cuong-quan-he-voi-hungary-post1041382.vnp