PM Orbán meets Uzbek President

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and welcomed the two countries’ strengthening ties, ahead of a summit of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) in Ankara on Thursday, the PM’s press chief said.

Orbán and Mirziyoyev said the implementation of previously signed agreements between the two countries was “progressing well”, Bertalan Havasi said. Hungary’s OTP Bank is now present in Uzbekistan, opening opportunities to further economic cooperation, he said.

The launch of regular airlines between Tashkent and Budapest is also a priority, they said.

Touching on the war in Ukraine, Orbán and Mirziyoyev said both countries had been hit hard by the war and the “sanctions-related crisis”. Global changes have made the ceasefire and peace talks even more important, and the significance of cooperation between Hungary and Uzbekistan has also grown, they said. They called for a speedy political and economic rapprochement between Europe and central Asia, Havasi said.