“Hungary is continuing its Eastern Opening policy; in the recent period it has been proven that it is indeed worthwhile, and both the Hungarian people and the Hungarian economy can profit greatly from it”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at an online press conference on Thursday.

The Minister said he had held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Chingiz Aidarbekov in view of the fact that the President of Kyrgyzstan was scheduled to visit Budapest on 23 April, but this visit has had to be postponed and will take place in late August or early September. “This is important because Central Asia is one of the most dynamically developing regions in the world”, he highlighted. “Hungary has already made a major effort to further cooperation between Central Europe and Central Asia, because this could represent a kind of foundation for future cooperation between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union”, he stated.
Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion although the political circumstances are currently not the most ideal, the global pandemic has clearly shown that there is a great need for cooperation of this kind, and accordingly practical, economy-based cooperation between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union is not only in Hungary’s interests, but a true European interest. “We will be concluding a strategic partnership agreement with Kyrgyzstan, and Hungary will be the first member state of the European Union to sign such an agreement with the Asian country”, he told reporters. “We have also finalised our agreements on investment protection and avoiding double taxation, which is important because the Kyrgyzstani market offers major opportunities for Hungarian enterprises within the fields of water management, the food industry, agriculture and information technology”, he pointed out. “In the interests of putting Hungarian enterprises into a favourable position, we will be establishing a 50-million-dollar Hungarian-Kyrgyzstani fund that will help Hungarian enterprises to gain ground on the Central Asian markets”, he said, noting that the parties had also agreed to tighten their cooperation within the United Nations.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also spoke about the fact that 150 state scholarship places are available for Kyrgyzstani students to attend Hungarian universities, which represents an important link between the two countries. He also told the press that the EU-Central Asia Economic Forum will soon take place, and negotiations have begun between the EU and Kyrgyzstan on the signing of a new partnership and cooperation agreement. “Hungary supports this, and expects Brussels to accelerate these negotiations”, he stated. “A global pandemic poses greater economic challenges for an emerging country such as Kyrgyzstan than it does for a country like Hungary that is able to set out to reboot its economy from a stable foundation”, Mr. Szijjártó said, adding: “For this reason, we are supporting the fact that the OECD should suspend Kyrgyzstan’s credit repayment obligations for a period of three years”.

(MTI)