Hungary and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement on economic cooperation in Budapest on Tuesday. At a press conference following the signing of the agreement, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said “Trade relations between the two countries must be placed on new, broader foundations”.

“We must curb a significant reduction in bilateral trade turnover”, he added. “Hungarian exports to the United Arab Emirates was based largely on a single large international company, Nokia. While Hungarian exports to the Emirates exceeded one billion euros in 2013, numbers fell by 75 percent in 2014 after Microsoft acquired the company and decided to close the Nokia factory in Komárom”, Mr. Szijjártó explained.

Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates, stressed the importance of innovation in developing economic cooperation between the two countries, as well as highlighting the importance of innovation. “The United Arab Emirates has developed an innovation strategy for the period 2015-2021, which spans several sectors including water management, which is extremely important to the Arab Emirates”, Mr. Al Mansouri said.

“We are counting on the cooperation of several countries to implement the strategy, including Hungary”, he added. Mr. Szijjártó told reporters: “In accordance with the cooperation agreement, a joint economic committee will be set up which will hold its first session in Abu Dhabi early next year. We also agreed that a development project protection agreement, which is important with relation to investments between the two countries, will also be signed prior to the close of the session.”

The parties also agreed to expand the air transport agreement between the two countries in the interests of increasing passenger traffic and stimulating freight traffic, he added. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also told reporters that Eximbank had established a 300 million euro fund for cooperation between enterprises from Hungary and the Emirates.

According to the cooperation agreement, Hungarian weeks showcasing Hungarian investment opportunities within the fields of agriculture, the food industry, water management and information technology will be organised in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Mr. Szijjártó also told reporters that the Hungarian Government would be providing one hundred scholarship places for students from the United Arab Emirates to study at universities in Hungary.

The two countries would also be preparing an agreement on nuclear training, within the framework of which some of the nuclear engineers who will be working at the four atomic power stations currently under construction in the Emirates will be trained in Hungary, the Minister said.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)