Hungary and UAE strengthen economic and strategic ties, eye new areas of cooperation

Hungary and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have affirmed their commitment to expanding cooperation based on mutual respect, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement issued by his ministry on Wednesday.

Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Szijjártó said bilateral economic ties had developed dynamically, with trade between the countries reaching half a billion dollars in 2024. He added that the sides had agreed to expand their cooperation to new areas, too. Partnerships between Hungarian and UAE businesses are starting in the areas of crude and gas production as well as renewables, and both sides want to establish closer cooperation in the areas of banking, digital industry, telecommunications and the defence industry, he said. Cooperation in the food industry is expected to expand, too, he added.

Szijjártó said the European Union could benefit from closer cooperation with the Gulf Region in light of the region’s marked improvement in competitiveness, even as the EU’s competitiveness had declined. He noted that efforts to reach a broad free trade agreement between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council had been unsuccessful and pressed for the start of negotiations on a separate free trade agreement with the UAE.

Szijjártó acknowledged the UAE’s stabilising role in the region and other parts of the world and pointed to its important part in the global fight against terrorism. He said the sides had affirmed their commitment to cooperating on initiatives to achieve peace and resolve armed conflicts.

Mohamed Bin-Zayed, the President of the UAE, posted in Hungarian on X:

Hungary signs MoU with UAE’s EDGE Group on defence industry cooperation

Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Arab Emirates’ EDGE Group on cooperation in the defence industry R+D+I in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, his ministry said.

Szalay-Bobrovniczky noted that he had discussed the possibility of defence industry cooperation with Mohammed Fadel Al Mazrouei, the UAE’s minister of state for defence, in the spring. “We’re stepping up the cooperation we started then, with the EDGE Group, one of the world’s leading defence industry companies,” he said. A contract was also signed with EDGE Group on the supply of CARACAL sniper rifles. Szalay-Bobrovniczky acknowledged the UAE’s increasingly active role in contributing to international military and security cooperation, including in the Sahel Region.

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