Kyrgyzstani Foreign Minister Erlan Abdildayev presented an award to Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó in the Kyrgyzstani town of Cholpon-Ata on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade informed Hungarian news agency MTI.

According to the information provided, the award is presented to Foreign Ministers who have done much to facilitate cooperation between Kyrgyzstan and their respective countries. So far, the award has been presented to, amongst others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

According to the statement, cooperation between Hungary and Kyrgyzstan is continuously increasing, primarily within the fields of the pharmaceutical industry, water management, agriculture and environmental protection.

Bilateral economic relations are developing dynamically: in the first half of 2018 Hungarian exports exceeded 5 million dollars, a year-on-year increase of 51 percent.

Education, cultural and scientific relations between the two countries are also continuously expanding.

On 28 February, Péter Szijjártó announced that Hungary would be increasing the number of scholarship places available to Kyrgyzstani students within the government-funded Stipendium Hungaricum programme from 25 to 75. 352 Kyrgyzstani students have already applied for Hungarian scholarships for the 2018-2019 academic year, the statement reads.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)