“Hungarian National Trading House Cls. (HNTH) will be opening two offices in India before the end of the year, one in the northern part of the country and one in the south, enabling Indian partners to become familiar with the expertise, products and technologies of some 4 thousand Hungarian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)”, Minister of State László Szabó from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Triade announced on Friday in Budapest at a press conference following the fourth meeting of the Hungarian-Indian Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation.

India’s Minister of State for Industry Policy and Promotion, Mr. Ramesh Abhishek, stressed: “Through the further reinforcement of trade relations, India will also be able to apply the high level of technological knowledge possessed by Hungarian enterprises”.

According to Mr. Szabó, the business meeting held on Thursday with the participation of 70 Hungarian companies also contributed to unearthing new business opportunities between the two countries. “In recent years many Indian companies have chosen Hungary as their investment destination, including TATA Consultancy Services, the SMR Group and Apollo Tyres”, he pointed out.

While praising Hungarian-Indian relations, Mr. Szabó also noted that the Indian Government provides scholarships to 35 Hungarian students every year to study Hindi, and the Hungarian Government welcomes 200 Indian students each year within the framework of the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship programme.

Following the press conference, representatives of Hungarian National Trading House Cls. and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) signed a cooperation agreement.

At the close of the event, on behalf of the Hungarian Government Mr. Szabó presented Vice-President of TATA Consultancy Services Mr. Dinesh Thampi with the Officer’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in recognition of his efforts to forge relations between the people of Hungary and India.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)