Prime Minister’s upcoming official visit to Hungary is of historical significance

According to the official, Hungary already has a very good relationship with Viet Nam and is interested in raising the level of cooperation in all fields of politics, culture and economy.

Despite geographical distance, both countries have a lot of things in common and a lot of ideas which can be shared, including measures Viet Nam and Hungary have launched to cope with the big challenges of modern world.

This high-level talks between the two Prime Ministers are of historical importance, which can provide a good opportunity to elaborate joint projects that can benefit the peoples of both sides, he noted.

"I think that our relationship can be further developed by building on existing cooperation and the comprehensive partnership that we have already established between our two countries," Barna Pál Zsigmond shared.

Judicial cooperation-highlight in Viet Nam-Hungary relations

Regarding achievements in the bilateral relations, the Hungarian Deputy Minister expressed his delight at the active relationship between the two judicial sectors and legislative agencies.

In November last year, the Hungarian Minister of Justice, the Prosecutor General and the Vice President of the Curia paid working visits to Viet Nam.

"We are committed to the maintenance of the regular exchange of judicial delegations as well as facilitation of active dialogue between these sectors in the future. We look forward to more high-ranking visits as both nations will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations in 2025," he reiterated.

Within the cooperation framework of the two Ministries of Justice, there is also a 10-month post-grad training program at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University dedicated to the training of Vietnamese professionals in the field.

On the other hand, there are some other aspects of the bilateral relationship such as education, which plays a key role in the multifaceted relations between the two nations.

Cooperation in education have been promoted for several decades. The backbone of the development cooperation and support policies with Viet Nam is the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program through which Hungary provides 200 annual scholarships for Vietnamese students. This program is very popular among the young Vietnamese students.

Every year, Hungary receives more than 400 applications, more than double than the allocated yearly quota.

"We are also delighted to welcome aspiring Vietnamese students who can serve as a bridge between the two countries in the future and contribute to further strengthening the close ties," said the official.

Besides, Hungary has implemented two highly successful tied-aid credit projects in Viet Nam, including a water treatment plant in the central province of Quang Binh, providing safe drinking water for the community and a population registry digitization project in the northern city of Hai Phong. Vietnamese people still benefit from both projects.

Referring the role of the Vietnamese community in Hungary in enhancing the bilateral ties, Barna Pál Zsigmond said, the Vietnamese community in Hungary has about 10,000 people, mostly living and working the capital city of Budapest.

The Vietnamese community in Budapest is well integrated into the Hungarian society, thus making the capital a more colorful and vivid place.

Momentum for boosting Viet Nam-EU relations

Hungary will take over the EU rotating presidency during July-December this year. Its main priority is to rebuild the competitiveness of the EU, and this reflects very closely to Viet Nam.

"The future of Europe is that we have to rebuild the competitiveness, and this is only possible if we build close relationships with countries which are very open to economic partnership with the EU, including Viet Nam," he stated.

Viet Nam, like Hungary, is very much interested in establishing as many economic relations as possible, which means fostering connectivity rather than within block structure.

"The competitiveness can give momentum to the existing economic relations between the EU and Viet Nam. Certainly, there are some particular interests which are very important for Viet Nam and Hungary. As much as we can, we will support these interests," the Deputy Minister said.

According to the official, Hungary is committed to free trade and it supports the dialogue between the European Commission and Viet Nam to discuss and make progress in all the EU-related matters.

The European nation highly appreciates Viet Nam's cooperative attitude and its recent efforts in implementing all the recommendations of the European Commission.

Hungary was also the first country to ratify the EU-Viet Nam Investment Protection Agreement and the nation has made efforts to convince other EU members to ratify the agreement as quickly as possible.

Sharing the potentials in the bilateral ties in the upcoming time, he noted that the potential in education, parliamentary, financial and judicial cooperation is clearly outstanding.

In addition to this, the opportunities for cooperation in research, science and technology and academia could be identified via expert mobility programs or joint training courses.

There are new opportunities and perspectives for deepening and enhancing bilateral cooperation in terms of economic and trade relations, with regard to Hungarian agricultural products.

Hungary welcomes Viet Nam to enhance cooperation across all areas, he reiterated./.