Hungary’s economy minister meets Iranian counterpart

Budapest, February 9 (MTI) – Mihály Varga, Hungary’s economy minister, met Iranian Economy and Finance Minister Ali Tayebnia in Budapest on Thursday.

The two sides agreed that Iran, with a population of close to 80 million, offers a potential market for Hungarian companies, while Hungary could be an important bridgehead to Europe for Iran, the economy ministry said.

Varga qualified the declaration of intent signed at the inaugural meeting of the Hungarian-Iranian mixed economic committee on Tuesday as “an important step forward”.

He mentioned the health and vehicle industries as prospective fields of cooperation.

Varga said the recent agreement on the elimination of double taxation may further boost investments and bilateral trade.

He added that the two countries would soon start negotiating an investment protection agreement.

Varga said the Iranian minister showed a keen interest in Hungary’s electronic monitoring system for road haulage companies (ekaer) and the online connection of tills to the tax office.