Laotian Delegation in Budapest between 9-11 February and Cooperation Agreement signed between HLFS and LHFS
A Letter of Intent and an Action Plan on a new type of cooperation between the Laotian-Hungarian Friendship Society (LHFS) and the Hungarian-Laotian Friendship Society (HLFS) was signed on 11 February 2017. The two documents were signed by Dr. Phouang Parisak Pravongviengkham, President of LHFS and Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Forest Management and dr. László Váradi, Co-president and CEO of Vitafort AgroAsia. The event was held at the Budapest Consular Office of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. The fact that the organisation of LHFS in general, and its management in particular, is fully renewed provides a favourable backdrop for renewing cooperation between the two organisations. The newly nominated Praesidium has six members, all earned their degrees in Hungary and they are rather familiar with Hungary’s economic and cultural life. There are four main areas of the cooperation agreement: joint development of economic, educational, cultural and scientific programs and participation in their implementation within the framework of financial and other possibilities. The Action Plan for 2017 includes partly the programs of the two organisations and partly the events to be jointly hosted by them.
Festivities on account of the Laotian New Year, welcoming the newly arriving Laotian students and continuous maintenance of contact, involvement in the organisation of the exhibition “Naga, birds and elephants” in the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, joint museum visits, commemorating the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries 55 years ago constitute important events in the annual program of HLFS. The annual program of LHFS includes the renewal of contacts with Laotian students who graduated earlier, enhancing the popularity of major Hungarian cultural, literary and tourism events and providing local coordination in order to ensure an increasingly efficient implementation of scholarship programs within the framework of the Stipendium Hungaricum Program. Supporting cultural and tourism programs within the framework of cooperation between the capitals of the two countries, promotion of the participation of Laotian companies in OMÉK, Hungary’s Food Industry Exhibition and supporting the production of a documentary launched previously about Laotian people who studied or still live in Hungary and Hungarians who used to work in Laos as experts were specified as joint activities to be pursued.
