Hanoi (VNA) – The Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom will pay an official visit to Vietnam from May 15-19 at the invitation of State President Nguyen Minh Triet, the first visit by a head of the eastern European state in 10 years.

The visit is aimed at boosting multifaceted friendly relations between Vietnam and Hungary and discussing options and concrete measures to further improve the effectiveness of the two countries’ cooperation, especially in economics and commerce.

In an exclusive interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Hungarian Ambassador to Vietnam Laszlo Vizi said the main message of the visit is to build on long-standing relations between the two countries while finding new cooperation forms which reflect the massive changes that both countries have undergone lately.

“It is also a good sign that the newly found interest is mostly targeted at high-tech industries, particularly at the IT sector,” Ambassador Laszlo Vizi said.

The diplomat also said that during President Laszlo Solyom’s visit to Vietnam , the two countries will sign an inter-governmental agreement on the establishment of a framework programme under which Hungary provides a 35 million EUR tied aid credit to Vietnam in addition to a Tourism Cooperation Plan for 2008-2009 and an Educational Work Plan.

Since the two countries established diplomatic ties in February 1950, Vietnam and Hungary have exchanged a number of high-level visits, namely visits to Hungary by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet in 1999 and State President Tran Duc Luong in 2004 and to Vietnam by President Arpad Goncz in 1998, National Assembly Chairman Katalin Szili in 2004 and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in 2005.

In the meantime, many Hungarian business delegations have explored possible investment and trade cooperation in Vietnam .

Bilateral economic and trade relations has seen positive developments with two-way trade rising from 38 million USD in 2004 to 89.6 million USD in 2007. Vietnam has exported mainly textiles, apparel, footwear, coffee, electronic spare parts, handicraft items to Hungary while importing from the country pharmaceutical products, medical equipment and machinery.

As for official development assistance (ODA), Ambassador Laszlo Vizi said that Vietnam is Hungary 's most important partner in Asia .

He went on to say that Hungary’s Country Strategy Paper for Vietnam for the 2008-2010 period will soon be published and Budapest - in accordance with the mutual needs and possibilities – will focus on the transfer of Hungarian experiences related to structural and economic changes and institutional reorganisation in the areas of statistics, public finance management modernisation and banking and financial sector reform.

Hungary has partnered with Vietnam in its official development assistance (ODA) policy since 2003, pledging a total of around 500,000 Euros per year to the Asian country.

However, Hungary increased its ODA pledge to Vietnam to 49.5 million USD at the mid-term Vietnam Consultative Group (CG) meeting that was held in Hanoi on December 6-7 last year.

According to the Ambassador, the Hungarian Government plans to provide 20 additional scholarships for Vietnamese students pursuing post-graduate agricultural and related studies.

He revealed that during the upcoming visit, his President will attend a round table on climate change which will be organised by his embassy and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam.

Hungary has supported and provided valuable assistance to the Vietnamese people’s past struggles for national liberation and current national construction. The country also supported Vietnam in its admission to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and in being a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in the 2008-09 term.