President Tran Duc Luong has called on Hungarian leaders to further promote friendship and bilateral ties, particularly trade and economic co-operation with Vietnam, now that Hungary has greater access to other members, of the European Union.

President Tran Duc Luong arrived in Budapest on Wednesday for an official visit to Hungary.

In his talks with President Ferenc Madl and Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy on Wednesday, and with Parliamentary Speaker Szili Katalin yesterday, President Luong said he believed Hungary's full EU membership would have a positive impact on boosting bilateral ties between the two countries.

President Luong arrived in Budapest on Wednesday for an official visit to Hungary as the first head of the Vietnamese State to have visited the country for 50 years.

His visit is part of a European tour which also includes Russia and the UK.

He and President Madl told a news conference, after their talks on Wednesday, that they had both seen a need to improve ties, especially in trade and economic co-operation, to meet the hidden potential of the two countries. Bilateral trade last year only stood at US$60mil.

The two presidents said they had held frank discussions about ways to boost ties in all fields.

At a State banquet on Wednesday night, President Luong thanked Hungary for its help during Vietnam's struggle for independence and its subsequent national development.

He said Vietnam followed with interest Hungary's national development and was very delighted with Hungary's great achievements in its reforms.

In his meeting with Medgyessy, President Luong said the two countries should focus their research on the impact that Hungary's accession to the EU had on their bilateral trade ties.

He further suggested a search for possible multilateral co-operation, saying that Hungary could receive Vietnam's consumer goods, farm and fish products, and the two countries could establish joint ventures to export these goods to a third market, particularly the EU and other traditional trading partners of Hungary.

He and Medgyessy agreed that political ties between the two countries had made good progress, although economic ties remained weak.

President Luong told Parliamentary Speaker Szili Katalin his meeting with Madl was a successful discussion of new measures to boost ties.

He also congratulated Parliamentary Speaker Szili Katalin on Hungary's EU membership, and said he hoped the event would serve as a catalyst to further intensify bilateral ties.

He welcomed the growth of ties between Vietnam's National Assembly and Hungary's parliament, and said the visit by Parliamentary Speaker Szili Katalin to Vietnam in March this year and a reciprocal visit to Hungary by Deputy NA Chairman Truong Quang Duoc were positive signs.

President Luong and Parliamentary Speaker Szili Katalin agreed that the friendship between the two countries over the past 50 years would serve as a valuable base from which to expand existing relations.

While in Budapest, President Luong laid flowers at a monument in the Square of Heroes, dedicated to the country's fallen soldiers.

Later he visited the Vietnamese embassy where he met Vietnamese working and studying in the country.

He also met the Vice-Chairman of the Hungarian Socialist Party, Imre Skeret, on Wednesday and attended a Vietnam-Hungary Business Forum yesterday, May 20.

He urged the forum to make good use of Hungary's EU membership as well as the economic restructuring under way in both countries to improve bilateral business.

(Source: Viet Nam News)