“Sierra Leone’s comprehensive economic development programme is in line with Hungary’s economic policy strengths, and accordingly there are new opportunities available for Hungarian enterprises to achieve major business success in the African country”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Tuesday in Budapest at a joint press conference with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Kaifala Marah.

Mr. Szijjártó, who received his negotiating partner with whom he signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two ministries, announced following the meeting: the two ministries will be working together within the fields of agriculture, water management, electricity supply and infrastructure development projects.

The Minister indicated that 60 percent of Sierra Leone’s gross domestic product (GDP) is derived from agriculture. “During the course of modernisation, there will be opportunities for Hungarian technologies, and the Hungarian Centre for Agricultural Research and Innovation has already made contact with its partner authority. Similarly there will also be an opportunity for the wide-ranging application of Hungarian water management technologies”, he added.

“The African country currently produces one hundred megawatts of electricity, but it has launched a programme to revolutionise its energy network. Hungary already has good references from Sierra Leone’s “immediate vicinity”: a few days ago it signed a major loan agreement within the framework of which it will be financing a project to produce two hundred megawatts of electricity in Ghana, and GE’s plant in Veresegyháza will be shipping electric turbines to Africa”, Mr. Szijjártó told the press, highlighting the fact that preparations for the involvement of Hungarian enterprises in a similar loan construction in Sierra Leone have also begun already.

The third area of cooperation is infrastructure development projects, which are also on the agenda of both African countries, which are “at a similar stage of development”, he said.

Mr. Szijjártó told the press that tied aid programmes will be stablished for the aforementioned sectors, creating opportunities for Hungarian enterprises to achieve success on these foreign markets.

He noted that while Sierra Leone was perhaps not the most logical country with which to develop relations, the country was one of the first to establish an honorary consulate in Budapest over twenty-five years ago.

“Sierra Leone has experienced the challenges that are so often characteristic of African countries”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “The Ebola epidemic, which had major healthcare repercussions, ended only a few years ago, but the state has also been hit by fluctuations in the price of raw materials and natural disasters”, he explained.

The Minister also mentioned that at a summit in the Ivory Coast last November, the European Union and the African Union had agreed that the causes of migration pressure must be handled at their point or origin, the goal being to as many people as possible to be able to live a good enough life in Africa so that they do not want to migrate away from there.

They agreed that as many African investment projects and young people as possible must be given support. Accordingly, the Government is offering scholarship places for ten students from Sierra Leone to begin their studies at Hungary universities each year. “The goal of the Cabinet is for people to live in their own homelands and not want to move to other places”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed, noted that Kaifala Marah was the first Foreign Minister from Sierra Leone to ever visit Hungary.

Dr. Marah said Mr. Szijjártó’s initiatives were brilliant, and clearly showed how it is possible to create advantages for both economies. He also thanked the Hungarian Government for supporting Sierra Leone’s efforts, especially at a time when the country must face several challenges and natural disasters.

According to the Foreign Minister, they had discussed a turning-point that will mean positive changes for Sierra Leone.
They are creating previously non-existent opportunities and institutions from the two countries will be establishing direct links, he said. He also told reporters that they had agreed that Hungary will be providing Sierra Leone with assistance to develop its capacities, of which the African Hungary is highly appreciative, he stressed.

“Both countries have a long road before them, and the more closely we cooperate and the more often we hold discussions, the better things will be”, Dr. Marah stressed.

He told reporters that Sierra Leone, which has a population of around two million people, has put several civil wars behind it, in addition to which it has also struggled with the Ebola epidemic an against rising inflation.

“While the vast majority of settlements were shrouded in darkness, today the energy market is developing significantly, and we are now also ready to enter into business within this field”, he indicated.

The Foreign Minister expressed his joy with regard to the signing of the declaration of intent on cooperation, adding that Europe should follow Hungary’s example.

“Africa is the land of opportunity. Hungary and Sierra Leone must work together to discover what the two states can do together in the interests of their own people. We have made history by concluding this memorandum of understanding on cooperation”, Dr. Marah declared.

Mr. Szijjártó was asked how it was possible that according to figures from the United Nations Organisation 130 people were extradited to Hungary last year in accordance with the Dublin Regulation, while the Government has stated that no such cases have occurred. In his reply, the Minister said he has no knowledge of anything of this nature having taken place. “If the journalist would like to receive credible data, he should ask the Ministry of Interior”, he said. According to Mr. Szijjártó, the Cabinet’s standpoint is clear: “The only way any migrant could have arrived in Hungary in 2015 was by having entered the territory of at least one other EU member state”.

In reply to a question Mr Szijjártó stressed that illegal immigrants and refugees were being intentionally confused.

Kaifala Marah also commented on the issue, explaining that only one out of every four or five Africans are glad to leave their homes. African migration is only a fraction of migration as a whole, and 80 percent of Africans eventually return home.

(MTI)