Hungarian Prime Minister  Viktor Orbán and his spouse began their three-day official visit to Vietnam on September 24 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Hungarian Prime Minister  Viktor Orbán

The visit aims to reiterate Hungary’s policy of attaching great importance to boosting multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam and developing the bilateral cooperative ties in a deeper and more effective manner. 

The two sides will discuss measures to promote the bilateral collaboration in wide-ranging fields, especially economics, trade, investment, education-training, healthcare, environment, security-defence, culture, and tourism as well as exchange regional and international issues of mutual concerns.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties on February 3, 1950, Hungary has given Vietnam valuable support and assistance during the past struggle for national independence as well as in the current national construction.

In recent years, the two countries have deepened political ties based on mutual trust and understanding, laying a firm foundation for fostering cooperation in economics-trade-investment, culture, education and security-defence.

Bilateral economic cooperation has recorded significant progress with two-way trade reaching 266 million USD in 2016, up 36.28 percent compared to the previous year. The figure hit 145 million USD in the first half of 2017, a year-on-year increase of over 60 percent.

Vietnam mainly exports garment, footwear, computers, electronic products, transport vehicles and spare parts to Hungary while importing medicine, machines, chemicals and animal feed from the European country.

As of the end of 2016, Hungary had 15 valid foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of 50.66 million USD, ranking 55th among 105 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Vietnam and Hungary have inked a number of agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding on science-technology, environment, double taxation avoidance, investment encouragement and protection, and agricultural cooperation.

Hungary is now home to more than 4,000 Vietnamese.

Hungarian PM’s visit to elevate bilateral ties

Hungarian Prime Minister  Viktor Orbán’s official visit to Vietnam from September 24-26 offers an opportunity for both sides to discuss measures to boost bilateral cooperation in various fields, as well as regional and international issues of shared concern.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties on February 3, 1950, Hungary has given Vietnam valuable support and assistance during the past struggle for national independence as well as in the current national construction.

In recent years, the two countries have deepened political ties based on mutual trust and understanding, laying a firm foundation for fostering cooperation in economy-trade-investment, culture, education and security-defence.

Bilateral economic cooperation has recorded significant progress with two-way trade reaching 266 million USD in 2016, up 36.28 percent compared to the previous year. The figure hit 145 million USD in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of over 60 percent.

Vietnam mainly exports garment, footwear, computers, electronic products, transport vehicles and spare parts to Hungary while importing medicine, machines, chemicals and animal feed from the European country.

As of the end of 2016, Hungary had 15 valid foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam with total registered capital of 50.66 million USD, ranking 55th among 105 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

Hungarian investment has been poured into processing and manufacturing, communication and real estate.

Regarding development cooperation, in January 2016, the two countries signed a framework agreement on financial cooperation worth 60 million EUR for the Can Tho Tumour Hospital project.

In January this year, they signed another framework agreement worth 440 million EUR for projects in the fields of water management, pharmaceuticals and health care, information technology, agriculture, and security-defence in Vietnam.

In the traditional cooperation field of education-training, Hungary has helped Vietnam train thousands of experts and engineers. On the occasion of President Ader Janos’s Vietnam visit in November 2014, Hungary raised the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students to 100 per year. From the 2017-2018 academic year, the figure will be 150 scholarships.

Collaboration between the two countries’ localities has been promoted. Hanoi is twinned with Szentendre city of Hungary while its Tay Ho district set up a sister relationship with District 16 of Budapest capital. Vietnam’s Mekong Delta city of Can Tho also signed a cooperation agreement with Kaposvar city of Hungary.

Vietnam and Hungary have inked a number of agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding on science-technology, environment, double taxation avoidance, investment encouragement and protection, and agricultural cooperation.

Hungary is now home to more than 4,000 Vietnamese.

VNA