Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó held talks with African water ministers on the sidelines of the Budapest Water Summit; hundreds of thousands of people in Africa have access to clean drinking water with the help of Hungarian technologies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s chief press officer Máté Paczolay said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Thursday. In recent years, Hungarian water industry enterprises have achieved major results on the African continent, the press chief pointed out.

In the spring on 2019, the construction of the first Hungarian sewage treatment plant began in Ghana in the city of Kumasi, which has 2.5 million inhabitants; the facility is significantly improving the quality of life of 100 thousand people by reducing the contamination levels of surface and underground waters, and illnesses caused by polluted water, he explained. At the meeting between Mr. Szijjártó and Ghana’s Minister for Water Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Ghanaian minister expressed her appreciation of Hungarian water industry experts, the press chief told MTI, adding that Hungarians now have the opportunity to realise two further water purification projects in the African country. He also reported on the fact that during the Minister’s meeting with Ugandan Minister for Water and the Environment Sam Cheptoris the parties reviewed the realisation of the ongoing international economic development cooperation programme, which has a total budget of 16 million euros. The programme includes the provision of a piece of water purification equipment for the Rwamwanja refugee camp, as a result of which at least 200 thousand people in Uganda’s largest refugee camp will gain access to clean drinking water with the help of Hungarian water purification units.

Uganda is of key importance with relation to migration; there are over one and a half million refugees living in the country, and accordingly Hungarian water purification technologies represent a significant help to Uganda, he highlighted. At the meeting, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised that it is in Europe’s interests for Africa’s population retention power and capacity to increase. Uganda is a priority partner in this respect, in view of the fact that it could guarantee the stability of the East African region. The Rwamwanja refugee camp’s new water purification unit will be installed before the end of this year. Mr. Paczolay told the press that Mr. Szijjártó also met with Oman’s Minister for Water Ahmed Abdullah Mohammed Al Shehhi, with whom he discussed energy- and water-related cooperation between the two countries, as well as the details of the upcoming visit to Oman by Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

(MTI)