General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong received Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during his visit to Vietnam in September 2017. Photo: Manh Hung

At the invitation of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and a high-ranking delegation of our country will pay an official visit to Hungary from September 8-11, 2018.

The official visit to Hungary by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is a historic event, as this is the first visit by our General Secretary to a country in the Central Eastern European region since the period of institutional transition in these countries.
The visit took place in the context of a stable political situation in Hungary. The Hungarian Civic Inter-Party (FIDESZ) has been in power since 2010. In the parliamentary elections on April 8, 2018, FIDESZ won and will continue to hold power for the next 4 years.
Hungary is located in Central Europe, sharing borders with Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria and Slovakia. Area: 93,030 km2. Population: 9,919,128 people (2016). Economically, Hungary is a bright spot in the EU's economic growth in recent years. GDP in 2017 increased by 3.9%. GDP in 2018 is forecast to increase by over 4%. Inflation rate of 2.8%, unemployment rate of 3.7%, both are low compared to other EU member countries: The Hungarian Government has set the target of maintaining GDP growth of 4%/year, maintaining a stable financial foundation, reducing public debt to below 60% of GDP by 2020), maintaining a low budget deficit, floating foreign currency; reducing unemployment rate and ensuring employment.
The Hungarian government advocates deep integration into the EU, strengthening relations with neighboring and regional countries, prioritizing energy diplomacy, protecting the interests of the Hungarian community in neighboring countries, and restoring and promoting relations with traditional partners. The Southeast Asian region plays an increasingly important role in Hungary's foreign policy. In order to multilateralize foreign relations, Hungary implements a "Look East" policy, strengthening relations with the Russian Federation and Central Asian and Middle Eastern countries, and expanding the "Look South" by restoring and promoting relations with traditional partners in Asia, especially Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries.
Vietnam and Hungary established diplomatic relations on February 3, 1950. The Vietnamese people have not forgotten the enthusiastic support and valuable assistance that the Hungarian people have given to Vietnam's revolutionary cause and national construction. In the movement "Vietnam, we are with you", Hungary organized many blood donation campaigns and material donations to help the Vietnamese people. Hungary also participated in the International Commission for Supervision and Control of the Implementation of the Paris Agreement on Vietnam, helping our country train more than 3,500 scientific and technical staff and erase debts from 1973 and earlier.
In recent years, the two sides have regularly maintained delegation exchanges at all levels, especially at high levels. Hungary considers Vietnam its most important partner in Southeast Asia. In recent years, economic and trade relations between the two countries have grown strongly, with turnover in 2017 reaching over 35.5 million USD for the first time. The Hungarian government has provided Vietnam with a preferential credit package worth 500 million euros to implement development support projects in the fields of health, water treatment, information technology, and agriculture. Bilateral relations have also been actively and comprehensively promoted in the fields of legislation, justice, defense-security, health, education and training, and cooperation between localities.
Hungary is the only country in Eastern Europe that has continuously increased the number of scholarships for Vietnam (currently 200 scholarships/year, starting from the 2018-2019 school year). This is a traditional area of ​​cooperation between the two countries and also a bright spot in the new period of relations.
The Communist Party of Vietnam established official relations with the ruling FIDESZ Party (September 2017) and maintained traditional relations with the Hungarian Socialist Party and Workers' Party.
With a history spanning 68 years, the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Hungary has been continuously nurtured by the leaders and people of the two countries over many generations. We believe that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s official visit to Hungary this time will be a great success.
The visit will create “New Milestones, New Dynamics, New Heights” in the bilateral relationship; enhance mutual understanding and trust between the leaders and people of Vietnam and Hungary; deepen the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation, raise the cooperation framework to “Comprehensive Partnership” with Hungary to create new and more substantial changes in all fields, thereby consolidating and promoting the influence of Vietnam in the Central Eastern Europe region; affirm Vietnam’s policy of considering Hungary as a leading traditional partner in the Central Eastern Europe region; at the same time, strengthen the relationship between the two ruling parties, as a basis for promoting bilateral relations in areas of both sides’ potential and strengths./.