Hungarian Minster of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, who is currently in Washington D.C. attending the Nuclear Security Summit, conducted bilateral negotiations and concluded economic cooperation agreements with his Brazilian and Nigerian colleagues on Friday.

Mr. Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI that in the persons of Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira and his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama, he had held negotiations with the heads of diplomacy of two countries that are both important economic partners to Hungary. According to Mr. Szijjártó, both countries have large economic potential. “Brazil is our largest economic partner in South America and although economic cooperation with Nigeria has slackened in recent years it must definitely be renewed and reinforced”, he said.

An agreement was reached on three issues during the Hungarian-Brazilian negotiations, the Minister told the press: Hungary would like to increase its food industry exports to Brazil in the interests of which Eximbank will be opening a 200 million US Dollar credit line, a further 250 Brazilian students will be attending Hungarian universities from this autumn within the framework of the Science Without Frontiers student exchange programme, and Budapest will be supporting the acceleration of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (the South American common market).

“Nigeria, which is increasingly often referred to as Africa’s economic giant and whose economic performance even overtook that of the South African Republic last year, has always been a good economic partner to Hungary”, Mr. Szijjártó explained. The level of this cooperation has fallen significantly in recent years as a result of Nokia exiting Hungary, he added. “This is a lesson to all of us that we must diversify our economy”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade told MTI.

During Mr. Szijjártó’s meeting with Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama on Friday, the parties signed an economic cooperation agreement and agreed on the opening of a 69 million US Dollar credit line by Hungary’s Eximbank. Mr. Szijjártó also told the press that Hungary had sent a foreign trade diplomat to the Nigerian capital Lagos to facilitate the export of Hungarian milk, meat, fruit and agricultural machinery.

There are currently over 900 Nigerian students attending Hungarian universities and Hungary has offered an additional fifty scholarships to students from the African country. Hungary’s head diplomat also drew attention to a unique form of cooperation: Hungarian military doctors have received training at a Nigerian university to treat tropical diseases that could be brought into Hungary by migrants.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)