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NA Chairman's visits enhance Việt Nam’s ties with Hungary, UK: official

VIETNAM, July 3 - HÀ NỘI — National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vương Đình Huệ’s visits to Hungary and the UK from June 26-30 concluded successfully, greatly promoting the Việt Nam-Hungary comprehensive partnership and deepening the Việt Nam-UK strategic partnership, said Vũ Hải Hà, Chairman of the NA's Commission for External Relations.

Hà told the press that the NA leader’s visit to Hungary, the first comprehensive partner of Việt Nam in Central and Eastern Europe, took place when the two countries had just celebrated the 72nd founding anniversary of diplomatic relations and were looking towards the 5th anniversary of the establishment of their comprehensive partnership.

The Vietnamese leader’s talks and meetings with Hungarian leaders took place in a sincere, open and trustful atmosphere, Hà said, adding that Speaker of the Hungarian NA László Kövér and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban underlined that Việt Nam was a special important partner of Hungary in Southeast Asia.

During the visit, the top legislators of Việt Nam and Hungary signed a new cooperation agreement for the new period, aiming to turn the partnership between the two NAs into a model relationship and an important pillar in Việt Nam-Hungary relations, he said.

Meanwhile, the NA Chairman’s visit to the UK took place at a time when the two countries were preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties (1973-2023), Hà noted.

He said that during the talks and meetings with the Vietnamese NA Chairman, both Speaker of the UK House of Lords John McFall and Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle highlighted the important role of the two parliaments in promoting the stronger development of the strategic partnership between the two nations.

The British leaders highly valued the role and position of Việt Nam in international relations in the region and the world, underlining that the UK shares many interests with Việt Nam in the Asia-Pacific region, said Hà, adding that the UK is also expanding its partnership to the Indian Ocean region.

Hà said that the Việt Nam-UK high-level forum on economy and trade was an important part of Chairman Huệ’s visit, aiming to further bolster the economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries.

So far, two-way trade has reached US$6.8 billion, while the UK's investment in Việt Nam has remained modest, standing at $4 billion, which means the collaboration potential between the two sides remains huge, according to the official.

Both sides also showed their interest to foster cooperation in other fields such as money laundering prevention and control, while sharing viewpoints on a number of international issues of mutual concern.

The official said that the British leaders expressed hope that the UK’s green industries such as wind power, especially offshore wind power, would play a greater role in assisting Việt Nam during the path to a future of clean energy. The UK could also give financial support to Việt Nam to realise the country’s commitments at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), said Hà, adding that the UK is also willing to work closely with Việt Nam in turning HCM City into a full financial centre and cooperate with Việt Nam in designing digital infrastructure and enhancing credit rankings of Vietnamese firms.

Hà said that promoting educational cooperation was one of the highlights of Chairman Huệ’s visits, with the organisation of seminars and forums in the field.

Việt Nam has shared a sound collaboration with the two European countries in education and training. A large number of Vietnamese officials and students have been trained in Hungary. At the same time, about 12,000 Vietnamese students are studying in the UK.

During the visit, Vietnamese universities and education organisations exchanged 19 cooperation agreements with their Hungarian and British partners, said Hà.

At the same time, during his visits to the two countries, Chairman Huệ thanked them for providing Việt Nam with COVID-19 vaccines and medical equipment, helping the country effectively fight the pandemic.

Regarding the climate change issue, both Hungary and the UK spoke highly of Việt Nam’s strong commitments at COP26, which represent the high political determination of Việt Nam to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050. To this end, Ha said that Việt Nam asked for the European countries' coordination in implementing related policies, and their provision of green finance and policy consultancy during particular steps to ensure the balance in costs and interests of the people and enterprises during the implementation of energy transition policies in the time to come. The two countries agreed on this proposal, Hà said.

Ha said that the NA leader also thanked Hungary and the UK for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to settle down and integrate into the host societies. The NA Chairman also had meetings with representatives of the Vietnamese communities in the two countries.

Leaders of a number of ministries and localities of Việt Nam, who accompanied the NA Chairman, also worked with their counterparts in Hungary and the UK to foster their ties in some areas.

Along with promoting the Việt Nam-Hungary comprehensive partnership and deepening the Việt Nam-UK strategic partnership, the visits also helped realise the Party’s external policy, Hà added. — VNS