On the afternoon of October 20, at the Government Headquarters, Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received President of the Hungarian National Assembly Kover Laszlo.
The two sides assessed economic - trade - investment cooperation as one of the important pillars in bilateral relations, agreeing to promote cooperation in this field commensurate with the trustworthy political relationship.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated and thanked Hungary as one of the first EU countries to ratify the Vietnam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and suggested that the Hungarian Parliament continue to support the promotion of the Parliaments of the remaining EU member countries to soon ratify the Agreement.
Hungarian National Assembly Chairman Kover Laszlo affirmed that Hungary is always ready and recommends, urging the remaining EU countries to soon ratify the Agreement, for the benefit of EU countries; affirmed that Vietnam is the EU's largest and most important trade partner in Southeast Asia.
In an atmosphere of friendship and trust, the two sides discussed a number of major orientations to make the bilateral relationship more and more substantial.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh proposed a number of enhancement measures including: (i) Strengthening political trust through continuing to promote delegation exchanges and contacts at all levels, especially at high levels through all channels of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and people-to-people exchanges;
(ii) Strengthen trade - investment cooperation, soon double the current bilateral trade turnover, reaching about 2 billion USD in the coming time and considering this an important pillar in the bilateral relationship;
(iii) Strengthen cooperation in the field of development, coordinate the effective implementation of projects using preferential credit of the Hungarian Government for Vietnam;
(iv) Strengthen cooperation in education and training, especially in areas where Hungary has strengths and Vietnam has needs such as nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, high technology, medicine, and innovation;
(v) Strengthening cooperation in the field of environment, especially water security - a strong area of Hungary;
(vi) Strengthening labor cooperation, one of the areas with great potential for complementarity;
(vii) Strengthen cultural cooperation, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, focusing on coordinating the organization of activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2025.
The National Assembly Chairman of Hungary highly agreed with the proposals of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Regarding cooperation on the parliamentary channel, Mr. Kover Laszlo said that all political parties in the Hungarian parliament, although following different political orientations, agreed to support the consolidation and deepening of relations with Vietnam; affirmed that the Hungarian parliament is always ready to coordinate in implementing high-level agreements, supporting the two governments to promote relations in all fields, especially strengthening economic - trade and investment relations. The Hungarian National Assembly will continue to closely coordinate with the Vietnamese National Assembly in building and perfecting the legal framework for bilateral cooperation, contributing to deepening the Vietnam - Hungary Comprehensive Partnership.
