The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced in a programme of Hungarian public TV channel M1 and in a programme of public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Wednesday that Hungary will establish four trading houses in Russia, in Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Rostov and St Petersburg.

The trading houses will be opened to strengthen the cooperation between Russian and Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises. A budget of EUR 260 million, to be allocated by Eximbank for the development of the sector, will serve the same purpose, Péter Szijjártó stated.

The politician said that economic cooperation is particularly relevant in the light of the fact that as a result of the EU sanctions against Russia and due to the Russian response Hungarian exports decreased by 14 percent last year, which means a loss of USD 400-450 million.

At the same time, the Russian party was asked to implement the Hungarian Magnit investment project as provided in an earlier agreement, trusting that the peace that would hopefully be achieved in Ukraine would settle Russian-European relations, said the politician.

Péter Szijjártó announced in December 2013 that Magnit, Russia’s largest retail chain, will establish a transport company in Hungary, which will operate a fleet of 1,000 lorries and the related infrastructure in Eastern Hungary, creating approximately 1,500 new jobs.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)