Hungary, Kazakhstan sign water industry cooperation pact

Hungary and Kazakhstan have signed an agreement on water industry cooperation, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said after a meeting of the Hungarian-Kazakh Strategic Council in Nursultan on Monday.

The agreement will open up opportunities for Hungarian businesses in Kazakhstan in the fields of water and wastewater management as well as water education and research, the finance ministry quoted Varga as saying.

The council reviewed the progress made in bilateral business ties since last year’s meeting as well as future cooperation opportunities, such as the exchange of know-how in the areas of agriculture, health care, the water industry and digitalisation, the minister said.

After the council’s session, Varga held talks with Kazakh Prime Minister Askar Mamin and Nurlan Kussainov, head of Kazakhstan’s International Financial Centre Authority.

As regards his meeting with Mamin, Varga said they were in agreement that both countries were strong enough economically to expand bilateral economic cooperation.

Kazakhstan has seen “convincing” economic growth, Varga said, noting that its GDP grew by 4.1 percent last year.

The Hungarian economy is also making considerable progress, the minister said. Last year’s 4.9 percent growth rate was almost three times higher than the European Union average, he added.

Concerning his meeting with Kussainov, Varga said Kazakhstan‘s new financial centre would also open up opportunities for Hungarian companies doing business in the country. He said Hungarian clearing house KELER was providing professional support for the centre.

As we wrote yesterday, Hungarian-Kazakh economic cooperation has become more and more intensive recently, and will hopefully be extended to mutual investment projects and joint ventures in the years to come, Finance Minister Mihály Varga told a Hungarian-Kazakh business forum in Nursultan, read more HERE.

Source: MTI