Hanoi (VNA) – National Assembly (NA) Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien heldtalks with his Hungarian counterpart Jakab Istvan in Hanoi on January 17,during which Hien affirmed that Vietnam hopes to expand its partnership withHungary in all fields.

TheVietnamese NA Vice Chairman held that economic, trade, and investmentcooperation between the two countries have seen continuous progress. Two-waytrade in 2018 reached nearly 600 million USD, a surge of 70 percent over 2017,he noted.

However, he statedthat the results have yet to match the potential and aspiration of both sides,suggesting that the two countries should coordinate closely in organising tradepromotion activities and support enterprises to seek cooperation and investmentin areas of each other’s strengths.

Hienexpressed his hope that Hungary, as an active member of the EU, will continuesupporting the development of the Vietnam-EU partnership, as well as thesigning and approval of the bilateral free trade agreement and the investmentprotection agreement.

Highlightingthe growing ties between the Vietnamese and Hungarian parliaments, he proposedthat the two sides increase both the exchange of high-level delegations and thesharing of experience on parliamentary operations.

At the sametime, the two sides should foster affiliation in supervising and speeding upthe implementation of agreements signed by the two governments, as well asstrategic cooperation projects, he said.

Hien addedthat both sides should continue to strengthen consultations, collaboration, andmutual support at multilateral parliamentary forums, such as theInter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP).

For his part, Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Jakab Istvansaid that his visit aims to maintain the delegation exchange between the twolegislative bodies and contribute to further strengthening the traditionalfriendship and partnership between Vietnam and Hungary, as well as bilateralparliamentary cooperation.

He affirmed that Hungary considers Vietnam an important strategic partnerin the Southeast Asian region, while expressing his hope that the twoparliaments will continue boosting collaboration for stronger friendship, trust,and mutual understanding among parliamentarians and the people of bothcountries.

Lauding the achievements that Vietnam has gained in economic developmentover the years, Jakab Istvan suggested that the two sides should expandpartnership in the areas of food safety, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, andtourism.–VNA