Hanoi (VNA) – Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Tran Thanh Man held talks with First Officer of the Hungarian NA Márta Mátrai in Hanoi on January 20.

Welcoming the guest, Man said that this is the first foreign delegation to have a working visit to the Vietnamese legislature in 2022, marking a good start in the parliamentary relations between Vietnam and Hungary as well as Parliaments of other EU member states.

Man told the guest that Vietnam always attaches importance to and wishes to strengthen the multifaceted cooperation with Hungary - Vietnam's first comprehensive partner in Central-Eastern Europe.

The Vietnamese legislative body appreciates the positive progress in the two countries’ relations over the past time, especially the upgrading of the relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership during the visit to Hungary by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2018, which demonstrated the determination of their leaders in promoting bilateral ties.

He appreciated Hungary’s taking Vietnam as a priority partner in its official development assistance (ODA) policy with the commitment of 440 million EUR (500 million USD) in preferential loans to implement cooperation projects in priority areas of the two countries.

Considering education and training a traditional field of bilateral collaboration with thousands of Vietnamese officials and engineers having been trained in Hungary, the Vietnamese legislator thanked the Hungarian side for granting 200 scholarships per year to Vietnamese students, thus contributing to training high-quality human resources for Vietnam.

He also took this occasion to thank the Hungarian State for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in the country, describing its members as an important factor contributing to tightening the friendship and cooperation between the two countries and two peoples.

For her part, Márta Mátrai affirmed that Vietnam is the most important trade partner of Hungary in Southeast Asia.

She expressed her hope that the Vietnamese National Assembly will provide support to realise cooperation agreements between the Governments, ministries and sectors of the two countries.

Regarding cooperation between the two National Assemblies, both host and guest showed their hope that the two sides will maintain contacts and coordination, and hold joint seminars to share legislative experience so as to develop the bilateral collaboration in a substantive and effective manner./.