Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó inaugurated a Consulate in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh on Thursday. The foreign representation will facilitate the development of Hungarian-Scottish relations, he emphasised.
The politician told Hungarian news agency MTI: The are some ten thousand Hungarians living in Scotland in the vicinity of Edinburgh, who until now have had to go to London if they needed to manage their affairs with relation to the Hungarian state.
“For this reason, it is right to create the opportunity for Hungarians living here to be able to manage their affairs locally, more comfortably, and with the need for much less travel”, he pointed out. “For this reason, we are also opening a consulate in Edinburgh, which will be tasked with facilitating Hungarian-Sottish relations”, he stated. “Out history touches at several points; we Hungarians have always appreciated the Scottish people and found them to be worthy of respect”, he said.
“We are now seeing the economic reinforcement of this cooperation with the fact that Scottish exports to Hungary are approaching one-hundred million pounds”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised. “In addition, Hungarian oil company MOL has realised a major investment by also opening an office in Aberdeen, and acquiring interests in seven exploration and extraction concessions on the continental shelf off the coast of Scotland”, he said.
“Furthermore, the Skyscanner company, which facilitates the harmonisation of air travel and was founded in Scotland, has established a development centre in Budapest and is engaged in major activities in the Hungarian capital”, he pointed out. “Higher education cooperation is also close, and for instance there is a Hungarian department operating at Glasgow University”, the Foreign Minister also said.
Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that in Birmingham, England, he had met with the directors of Jaguar Land Rover, with whom he had reviewed developments relating to the establishment of the company’s engineering development centre in Budapest. The Minister informed the company about the Hungarian Government’s decisions aimed at facilitating electromobility and the development of self-driven vehicles.
As he explained, Jaguar Land Rover is one of the flagships of the automotive industry’s transition to the new, innovative era, and accordingly its investment decision to establish a development centre in Hungary, which will create workplaces that generate particularly high added value, will significantly assist the Hungarian economy’s transition to the new global economic era.
(MTI)
