Uzbekistan Hungary concludes important new agreements and resumes direct flights

Hungary and Uzbekistan have profited dramatically from their friendship and are ready to expand cooperation further, including in the energy sector, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Tashkent on Tuesday.

Speaking at a Hungarian-Uzbek mixed economic committee meeting, Péter Szijjártó said bilateral trade surpassed 100 million euros last year, and Hungarian companies were preparing to invest in Uzbekistan.

The two countries are also ready to triple their joint investment fund to 150 million dollars to ensure support for every project, Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

Szijjártó said cooperation was expected to expand to the energy sector in the future. Uzbekistan’s electricity demand is expected to double by 2030. “Realistically, producing large quantities of cheap, sustainable, and safe energy is only possible through nuclear energy,” he said, adding that Hungary was supporting Uzbekistan’s nuclear program and that the training of Uzbek experts had already started there.

He said the two countries have also agreed that Uzbekistan would use Hungarian cooling technology should it sign a contract with Russia’s Rosatom to construct a new nuclear plant.

Szijjártó said Hungary’s friendly relations with Central Asia went back in 2010. Then, the country faced criticism from several Western countries “who have since changed their tune as it turned out that the region is rich in rare earths, and that there is a need for new transport routes between East and West,” Szijjártó said.

Later on Tuesday, Szijjártó met Laziz Kudratov, Uzbekistan’s minister for investment, industry, and trade. In a joint statement, the ministers said bilateral trade has grown by 86 percent since 2010, surpassing 100 million US dollars last year. He said that a Hungarian pharmaceutical company is preparing to build a factory in Uzbekistan, and preparations are in the home run for a 165 million US dollar chicken processing plant. Further, OTP Bank’s presence in the country offers Hungarian investors opportunities.

He added that

Tashkent has also pledged to set up a 50-hectare special investment zone for Hungarian companies.

He said direct flights between Budapest and Tashkent will resume on June 30. As we wrote before, Budapest flights to Uzbek capital resume, details HERE.

The minister said the scholarship program launched by Hungary is very popular in Uzbekistan. 170 students are accepted at universities in Hungary each year, and more than a thousand have already applied for this academic year, Szijjártó said.

Our news portal was invited to Tashkent International Investment Forum 2024. Read our coverage of the event here.

Szijjártó: Civilised East-West cooperation is increasingly important

The economic performance of European countries is thoroughly affected by their collaboration with China, with Eastern investments and trade hugely significant from the point of competitiveness and growth, the foreign minister and trade said on Tuesday.

The ministry cited Szijjártó as saying in Tashkent that civilised East-West cooperation was increasingly important because galloping economic growth is currently occurring in the East rather than in the West.

He cited the example of China, noting that Chinese investments and bilateral trade “have a major influence on European economies”.

“Countries able to preserve their achievements and develop fast are developing cooperation with the East most effectively and quickly,” he added.

Szijjártó said that in the current era of wars and crises, trends are developing towards the formation of blocs worldwide.

“This goes against our national interests. Our goal is that the upcoming period should be dedicated to making connections and not forming blocs,” he added.

“We have been developing cooperation with Central Asia for 14 years. We recognised its importance early on when it attracted serious criticism, but by now, we have proven to be right,” he said.