“It was a good decision on the part of the government to launch the Eastern Opening Policy ten years ago, and this is one of the reasons why the Hungarian Embassy was opened in the Kyrgyzstani capital of Bishkek on Wednesday”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared at a Kyrgyzstan-Hungary business forum. The event held prior to the official opening of the new embassy was attended by Economy Minister Sanzhar Mukanbetov and local businesspeople.

Mr. Szijjártó emphasised that today, Hungary is one of the winners of the global economic changes, but this could not have succeeded without the launching of the Eastern Opening Policy ten years ago. “Many in the world of European and international economic life criticised, lectured and looked down on Hungary for this, saying that it is removing itself from the world of its Western allies”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “But is has since become clear that these criticisms were voiced exclusively because they didn’t want to see us on the Central Asian markets as the competition of our Western friends”, he added.

The Minister said that while 81 percent of the world’s investments were realised from Western capital in 2007, with Eastern capital only acquiring a ratio of 17 percent, last year the ratio of Eastern investments reached 58 percent, with Western ones only achieving 40 percent. “There has been a similar trend in Hungary, where 60 percent of all foreign investment arrived from the East last year, and 40 percent of all new jobs were created by eastern investors”, he added.

“Today, Hungary is one of the winners of the global economic changes, but this could not have succeeded without the launching of the Eastern Opening Policy ten years ago”, the Minister declared, adding that a very important role is being played in the latter by the Central Asian region, as also proven by the high number of Hungarian businesspeople present at today’s forum.

Mr. Szijjártó highlighted the fact that Hungary realised the largest rate of economic growth in the European Union last year. He also spoke about the fact that based on his political negotiations on Wednesday, it may be stated that “there are no open political issues between the two countries that could represent a hindrance to cooperation”. “On this occasion, agreements were concluded that will facilitate the realisation of as good and as many business deals as possible”, he added.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister, who during the course of the day was also received by head of state Sooronbay Jeenbekov, told reporters that the Kyrgyzstani President will be visiting Hungary in April, and that this visit will raise relations between the two countries to the level of strategic partnership. “It was within the framework of this process that Hungary has opened is new Embassy in Tashkent”, he highlighted. “There are eleven people working at the Embassy, the main task of which is the development of bilateral relations. On Tuesday, Hungary also received permission from the European Commission to sign an investment protection agreement in April, which will also enable the reinforcement of the legal basis for cooperation”, Mr. Szijjártó announced.

He reported on the fact that a fifty-million-dollar joint investment fund will be established with the participation of Hungary’s Eximbank and international partners. “In addition, Hungary is offering assistance towards the mitigation of Kyrgyzstani environmental damage”, he added. The Minister told reporters that 75 Kyrgyzstani students will begin their studies at Hungarian higher education institutions beginning in September. “In addition, the Kyrgyzstani President will be sending ten government officials to Hungary for a week to study Hungary’s economy and structural changes, which have enabled the fastest rate of economic growth in Europe”, the Minister stated.

In closing, Mr. Szijjártó spoke about the fact that Hungary highly appreciates the efforts that Kyrgyzstan has made in the fight against terrorism, the protection of its borders, and in monitoring the flow of extremist people and ideologies. “This is no easy feat in the neighbourhood of Afghanistan, and accordingly we can safely state that the security of Europe begins in Central Asia. This is one of the reasons why Hungary is supporting Kyrgyzstan’s bid for membership of the UN Security Council in 2027”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade declared.

(MTI)