Hungary and Kazakhstan strengthen ties with 7 new agreements in business, agriculture, and science

Hungary and Kazakhstan have signed seven new agreements in the areas of business development, agriculture, digitalisation and science, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said after a meeting of the Hungarian-Kazakh Business Roundtable in Budapest on Wednesday.

In a statement issued by his ministry, Varga said Hungary was committed to a policy of economic neutrality, paving the way for Hungarian companies’ expansion onto markets in both the East and the West.

Photo: Facebook/Varga Mihály

He added that the roundtable meeting was a “milestone”, taking place as Hungary and Kazakhstan marked ten years of strategic partnership.

Varga, who co-chairs the Hungarian-Kazakh Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation Commission and heads the Hungary-Kazakhstan Friendship Group of the Hungarian National Assembly, noted that bilateral trade between the two countries had climbed by a factor of 2.5 since 2010. Over 200 Hungarian companies are now exporting to Kazakhstan, he added.

He also pointed to Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s 27.5pc stake in Kazakhstan’s Rozhkovskoye gas field.

Hungary seeks “intensive ties” with Kazakhstan in all areas, including investments, water management, farming, science and education, Varga said.

The new agreements could allow Hungarian companies’ participation in a number of developments in Kazakhstan, such as a planting seed factory and a motorway vignette payment system, he added.

An agreement between Budapest’s Óbuda University and the Kazakh National University will strengthen bilateral cooperation in science and innovation, he said.

President Sulyok meets Kazakh counterpart

President Tamas Sulyok met Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the president of Kazakhstan, for talks in the presidential palace on Wednesday.

At the talks, Tokayev signed the book of the Sándor Palace, and the two presidents gave each other gifts. The gifts Sulyok presented to his guest included wine and porcelain, while he received a set of jewellery, a painting, and a box of apples.

After the presidents met for a working lunch, Sandor Palace issued a statement that the two presidents agreed that “excellent” ties between the countries informed by a common history and similar ways of thinking, and Hungary sought to pursue varied and intensive relations with Central Asian countries, with a special focus on the economy.

President Tokayev said his visit was aimed at elevating already “extremely good” relations to an even higher level, and he noted that Kazakhstan established diplomatic representation in Budapest in 1993, its first in Europe.

President Sulyok said cooperation had benefitted both countries in recent years, noting that this year the two countries were marking ten years of their strategic partnership.

Both countries were well placed as logistics and trade hubs between East and West, and Hungary “is looking forward to further opportunities” to cooperate in the energy and water industries while also welcoming Kazakh investors to Hungary, the statement said.

The two heads of state agreed that global solutions were needed to mitigate the consequences of climate change and protect the environment.

The presidents talked about Tuesday’s Hungarian-German soccer match which they both attended, and Tokayev praised the Hungarian team.

After the meeting, Tokayev invited Sulyok to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan next year.

Later on László Kövér, the speaker of parliament, received President Tokayev in Parliament, the national assembly’s press office said in a statement. Both officials praised blossoming bilateral relations and noted the “strategic importance of ties in education and scholarship programmes”, as well as the role that powers like Kazakhstan and Hungary “can play in preventing further escalation” of the Russia-Ukraine war and in securing the quickest possible ceasefire.

Szijjártó: Hungarian-Kazakh economic cooperation to advance ‘by leaps and bounds’

Economic cooperation between Hungary and Kazakhstan is set to advance “by leaps and bounds”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Wednesday.

In a statement issued by his ministry on the occasion of a visit to Budapest by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Szijjártó said a number of big Hungarian companies would make large investments in Kazakhstan.

Hungarian pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter is making preparations to bring some manufacturing to Kazakhstan, where it sells around HUF 10bn of its products a year, he said. A Hungarian agribusiness is setting up plants in Kazakhstan with significant support from the local investment promotion agency, he added.

Three Hungarian companies are partnering on a USD 15m waterfowl farm investment that will produce both meat and feathers, he said.

A Hungarian company is part of a consortium rolling out a road vignette system in Kazakhstan and two Hungarian universities are drafting a plan for a reform of the country’s water management practices, he added.

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has invested USD 200m in Kazakhstan and has a stake in a field there that started production in October, he said. MOL is in talks on expanding further in the region, he added.

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