“The space industry has become one of the most promising sectors of industry in recent years, and Hungary has acquired a lot of experience that could help it become one of the important participants of the international space industry”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday.

Reporting on his visit to French space agency CNES, the Minister said: “Several Hungarian enterprises are already taking part in major international development and technology projects”. He said that in his opinion France is one of the frontrunners within this sector, in view of the fact that it has the second largest space agency following NASA. “In addition, 40 percent of the European space industry is provided by France”, he added.

“We have now concluded a cooperation agreement with the French space agency that will allow the joint realisation of satellite technology, space science and space research projects”, he highlighted. “Young Hungarian professionals will be given the opportunity to take part in ongoing expert programs here in France, and to expand their knowledge as a result”, he explained.

“It is a huge Hungarian success that large French corporations have given two Hungarian companies the opportunity to act as suppliers and become involved in the construction of the world’s largest fleet of satellites, and accordingly Hungarian enterprises will be supplying one of the important parts of the satellites, as well as their insulation”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised. “This is a major acknowledgement, and clearly shows that it is no accident that we have made the space industry a priority sector in the interests of the future economic competitiveness of Hungary”, he stated.

He also spoke about the fact that Hungary has a clear strategy running up to 2025: we would like a Hungarian astronaut to once again go up to work in the International Space Station. “With relation to this, we are cooperating with one of the world’s leading space powers, Russia, but have also offered the research capacities of Hungary’s future astronaut to the European space industry’s trade association Eurospace”, he pointed out.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)