“The government’s Eastern Opening policy has lived up to its promises”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Friday in Budapest following a meeting with Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi.

At a joint press conference following the meeting, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted: “In recent years, the role of the East within the global economy has increased significantly”. “The balanced, bilateral relations that Hungary has developed with the countries of the East represent an advantage for Hungary and Hungarian enterprises. The government is paying particular attention to Central Asia in view of the fact that the region is showing a rapid rate of economic growth, and the EU has adopted a separate strategy for expanding cooperation with the region”, he added.

“Kazakhstan plays a significant role within the Central Asia region, and is undertaking an important role in the fight against terrorism and religious extremism”, he explained. “Today, when we are threatened with new waves of illegal migration, it is important to take action against its greatest root causes, terrorism and religious extremism, and accordingly Kazakhstan’s performance should be highly appreciated”, he pointed out. “The situation in Central Asia has a major effect on Europe’s security, and accordingly Kazakhstan’s stabilising role is highly important”, he noted.

The Foreign Minister pointed out that a reinforced partnership and cooperation agreement has come about between the EU and Kazakhstan, and the visa simplification treaties must also be realised at the earliest opportunity. “Kazakhstan has already introduced unilateral simplifications, and the EU should introduce similar measures”, he stated. “Hungary is an observer in the Turkic Council, of which Kazakhstan is also a member. Bilateral cultural and education relations are important, and Hungary is affording 250 scholarship places to enable students from Kazakhstan to attend Hungarian universities, and there is a great level of interest in these places”, he said.

“A new global economic system is coming about as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, and Hungary would like to be one of the winners of this new system”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised. “This is why it is important that the expansion of Hungarian enterprises onto foreign markets should be as successful as possible, and increasing numbers of Hungarian enterprises make use of the advantages that are inherent in the fact that there are no open issues in Hungarian-Kazakh political relations”, he stated. “MOL’s investments in Kazakhstan have exceeded 200 million dollars, and the company is working on the exploration of a major gas field in the country, with extraction expected to begin next year. Richter’s market share is also continuously increasing in Kazakhstan”, Mr. Szijjártó added. “Hungarian exports to the Central Asian country have increased by 69 percent so far this year”, he stated. “Hungary’s Eximbank has opened a 170-million-dollar credit line to facilitate cooperation between Hungarian and Kazakhstani enterprises”, he added.

Kazakh Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tileuberdi emphasised: “Hungary is our closest ally in the region, and our strategic partner; the two countries are linked by significant political and economic interests”. Mr. Tileuberdi said he and his Hungarian counterpart had discussed possibilities for further cooperation within the fields of political, economic and cultural relations and their role in international and regional organisations. “In addition, we also spoke about international issues that we are working jointly to resolve, including visa simplification with the EU. We have an extremely similar approach to many issues”, he stated.

On the subject of economic relations, the Kazakh politician highlighted the importance of energy, healthcare, transport and tourism. In response to a question, he explained: “Although Hungary has observer status in the Turkic Council, it takes part in the Council’s work as essentially a full member”, “We would like to organise a summit for the Council’s members in Kazakhstan in the near future, at which economic cooperation will be given major emphasis”, Mr. Tileuberdi said.

In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó said: “Hungary became an observer in the Turkic Council because we would like to take our common cultural and historical heritage seriously, and apply it practically to facilitate everyday cooperation”. “During the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic, we received aid from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey”, he recalled. Also in response to a question, he said: “We hold a Hungary-Russia summit every year, and one was held at the end of October last year in Budapest, and accordingly it is scheduled to be held in Russia this year”. “The issue hasn’t been taken off the agenda, and the summit had been planned to take place towards the end of this year, but the epidemic made it necessary to postpone or cancel all plans of this nature. We continue to count on the meeting being held this year, but this could be overwritten by a host of factors”, the Minister stated.

Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that it has become clear with relation to the EU that George Soros has personally given advice and made recommendations to EU officials to make an example of Hungary and take away European Union funding from the Hungarian people, because “he doesn’t like what is happening here politically”. “But we do not want to conform to the expectations of George Soros or the international liberal mainstream, but to the expectations of the Hungarian people, and we will not allow the money that is due to them to be taken away”, he declared. “In Brussels, many bureaucrats and European Commission officials are visibly and quite obviously working to take away the funding that is due to Hungary, citing deceitful, politically motivated and false reasons”, he added. Prior to the press conference, the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on diplomatic training.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)