Hungary to grant visa preferences to Turkish businesspeople

Ankara, March 3 (MTI) – Hungary will offer special visa preferences to Turkish businesspeople and economic players since Turkey has granted visa waiver status to Hungary, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.

The planned preferences are one of nine measures included in the protocol of the Hungarian-Turkish mixed economic committee meeting held on Thursday and Friday, Szijjártó told MTI in Ankara.

The aim is to boost bilateral trade to total 5 billion dollars annually from the current 3 billion dollars, Szijjártó said.

He noted the 255 million euro credit line to be opened by Hungary’s Eximbank to promote Hungarian and Turkish business partnerships.

Szijjártó said that Budapest had asked Ankara’s support in involving the state-owned Hungarian Electricity Works (MVM) in infrastructure projects as well as with the introduction of oil and gas company MOL’s products on local markets.

Hungary’s government has awarded a 5 million euro grant to Turkey’s Ravaber for the construction of a 22.5 million euro insulation plant in Miskolc, in north-eastern Hungary, that will create 107 jobs, he said.

The government wants to give further incentives for cooperation between Hungarian and Turkish research institutes in the farming sector, and it wants to export more Hungarian cattle to Turkey, the minister said.