Hungarian minister signs diplomatic, economic, educational agreements in Costa Rica – Photos

Washington, DC, May 12 (MTI) – Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó signed diplomatic, economic and educational agreements during a visit to Costa Rica.

“Hungary considers Costa Rica a bridgehead in establishing ties with central America,” Szijjártó told MTI by phone from San Jose on Wednesday evening local time. Experience shows that Costa Rica also considers Hungary a bridgehead in its network of central European and European relations, he said.

President Luis Guillermo Solis and Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó

Szijjártó met Costa Rica’s president, Luis Guillermo Solis, and held talks with his counterpart Manuel Gonzalez Sanz at the foreign ministry.

Szijjártó said they agreed to hold regular diplomatic consultations. The sides signed a collocation agreement in line with which Hungarian diplomats will have offices in Costa Rica’s embassies in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Panama, and Hungary will offer office space for Costa Rican diplomats at its embassies in central Europe.

They also agreed to expand economic cooperation primarily in water management. Costa Rica has the resources to support itself from renewable energy, especially hydropower, over several months a year, so it can be a potential market for Hungarian water management technologies, Szijjarto said.

In line with the educational agreement, Hungary will provide ten scholarships to Costa Rican students.

Szijjártó said economic ties between Hungary and Costa Rica have been dynamically developing, with a 54 percent increase in trade to 20 million dollars last year, which tripled in the first half of this year.

The sides agreed that Hungary would support Costa Rica’s bid to join the OECD and Costa Rica would support Hungary’s candidacy in the UN Human Rights Council.

Szijjártó said that considering that Costa Rica has in many respects similar problems with migration as Hungary, with many Cuban and African migrants passing through its territory, the negotiating partners were interested in learning about Hungary’s practices in managing migrant issues.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters