Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan (R) and First Officer of the Hungarian National Assembly Márta Mátrai (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan hosted a reception inHanoi on January 21 for First Officer of the Hungarian National Assembly MártaMátrai.
Xuanthanked Hungary for assisting Vietnam in the fight against COVID-19, making iteasier for the country to restore socio-economic development like today, whileactively backing Vietnam at multilateral forums, especially the signing andratification of the European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) andbecoming the first EU nation to approve the EU-Vietnam Investment ProtectionAgreement (EVIPA).
Followingthe upgrade of bilateral ties to comprehensive partnership in September2018 during Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit, Xuan wished that bothsides would enhance cooperation in a more effective and practical manner,firstly the exchange of high-level delegations both online and offline via theNational Assembly, Party, Government and people-to-people diplomacy channels,as well as offering mutual support at multilateral forums to maintaintraditional friendship.
With two-way tradereaching nearly 1.3 billion USD in 2020 and around 1 billion USD in 2021, theVietnamese Vice President hoped that more economic and investment promotionactivities would be held to lift the figure to a greater height.
Apart from Hungary’ssupport for Vietnam in official development assistance (ODA) andeducation-training, the host wished that both sides would continue workingclosely together in other fields such as science-technology, innovation, healthcare and especially COVID-19 prevention and control. She also hoped for furtherattention to promoting gender equality to achieve better results.
On the occasion, shealso thanked the Hungarian Government for providing support for the Vietnamesecommunity living there, with over 5,000 people.
Mátrai, for her part, informed the host that during hermeeting with National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, both sides agreed tocontinue bolstering ties between the two legislatures, including organising thethird thematic seminar to uphold the efficiency of their cooperation mechanism,strengthening friendship between friendly parliamentarians’ groups tocontribute to the success of State diplomatic activities, and considering thepossibility of holding meetings between NA economic committees to boost trade.
She also wished that joint workacross science, economy and education would be further stepped up so that thetwo cultures would become closer./.
