Hanoi (VNA) - National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue's visits to Hungary and the UK from June 26-30 concluded successfully, thus greatly promoting the Vietnam-Hungary comprehensive partnership and deepening the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership, said Vu Hai Ha, Chairman of the NA's Commission for External Relations.

Ha told the press that the NA leader’s visit to Hungary, the first comprehensive partner of Vietnam in Central and Eastern Europe, took place when the two countries have just celebrated the 72nd founding anniversary of diplomatic relations and are looking towards the 5th founding anniversary of comprehensive partnership.

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

During the visit, the top legislators of Vietnam 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 the Vietnam-Hungary relations, he said.

Meanwhile, the NA Chairman’s visit to the UK took place at a time when the two countries are going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties (1973-2023), Ha 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 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 Vietnam in international relations in the region and the world, underlining that the UK shares many interests with Vietnam in the Asia-Pacific region, said Ha, adding that the UK is also expanding its partnership to the Indian Ocean region.

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

Currently, two-way trade has reached 6.8 billion USD, while the UK's investment in Vietnam has remained modest, standing at 4 billion USD, which means the collaboration potential between the two sides remains huge, he said.

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, stated Ha.

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

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

Vietnam 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 Ha.

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

Regarding climate change issue, both Hungary and the UK spoke highly of Vietnam’s strong commitments at COP26, which represent the high political determination of Vietnam to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050. To this end, Ha said that Vietnam 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 with this proposal, Ha 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 Vietnam, 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 Vietnam-Hungary comprehensive partnership and deepening the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership, the visits also helped realise the Party’s external policy, Ha added./.