Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Hungarian counterpart Bajnai Gordon held talks in Budapest on Sept. 18 to discuss concrete measures to boost bilateral ties.

PM Dung, accompanied by a high-level delegation, is on an official visit to Hungary beginning on Sept. 17 at the invitation of Hungarian PM B. Gordon.

The two PMs exchanged views of regional and international issues of common concern and coordination between the two countries at multilateral forums, particularly as Vietnam assumes the presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2010 and Hungary takes on the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the first six months of 2011.

The Hungarian PM said his country would back the recognition of Vietnam as a market economy and protest against the anti-dumping duties levied against Vietnam ’s leather-capped shoes exported to the EU market.

The two PMs explored the idea of regular exchanges of high-level delegations to promote mutual trust and understanding between the two countries leaders, thus creating a foundation for further development of bilateral relations in other fields.

They agreed that recent Vietnam-Hungary relations have continued in the spirit of their traditional relations over the past 60 years, and affirmed their determination to develop those relations on the basis of stability, durability and mutual benefit.

The two PMs concurred that trade and investment relations have been proactively moving forward, with results doubling over the past five years, however, they have not yet matched with the two sides’ potential and their mutual desires.

They agreed to prioritise cooperation in these fields and to steadily increase annual two-way trade turnover, especially in the context of the global economic crisis.

To meet the target, the two PMs stressed the need to review the implementation of signed treaties and agreements and to create favourable conditions for their businesses to meet and become acquainted with each other, to spur invest from each country into the other.

The two PMs also said the cooperation documents signed by the two countries’ ministries and agencies during the visit would create an impetus for the development of the bilateral relations in the coming time.

They consented to preparations for the third meeting of the Vietnam-Hungary Inter-Governmental Committee slated to take place in Budapest in December this year as well as celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties in 2010.

On the occasion, PM Dung expressed thanks to the Hungarian people for their assistance to Vietnam in its cause of national liberation in the past and national construction at present.

He also thanked the Hungarian government for paying careful attention to and helping the Vietnamese community living, working and studying in the country and said he hoped the government would further assist them in terms of living and doing business there.

Hungarian PM Gordon spoke highly of Vietnam ’s socio-economic development achievements and the country’s effective response to the impacts of the global economic crisis.

He expressed the wish to boost the cooperation in all fields, particularly in economy, trade and investment, saying Vietnam is a priority of Hungary ’s foreign policies towards Southeast Asian countries, and will serve as a link for relations between Hungary and ASEAN.

The Hungarian leader stressed that Hungary will further support Vietnam ’s renovation process and that it sees Vietnam as a high-priority partner in its development assistance policies.

He said his country will soon consider the provision of non-refundable development assistance to help Vietnam reduce environmental pollution as well as in the research and application of environmental technologies.

After the talks, the two PMs signed a framework agreement on financial cooperation between the two governments.

They also witnessed the signing of a protocol between the two Foreign Ministries, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in migration, consulates and nationality affairs, another MoU on energy cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and Hungary’s Ministry of Transport, Telecommunication and Energy, and an agreement on nuclear research cooperation between the Hanoi National University and the Institute of Isotopes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Then, at a meeting with the press, both PMs stressed the importance of further cooperation, particularly in economy, trade, investment and education.

PM Dung said their talks focused on concrete measures to boost multifaceted cooperation for the two countries’ mutual interests.

PM Gordon said Hungary will prioritise its official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam in the coming time, providing, to begin with, a 60 million EUR preferential credit to build a 500-bed tumour hospital in the southern city of Can Tho.

He also said Hungary will continue its assistance to Vietnam ’s education and training by increasing scholarships for Vietnamese students, and encouraging universities of the two countries to build cooperation programmes on training, scientific research, and the exchange of lecturers and students./.