PM Orbán visits Kyrgyzstan

Hungary highly values Kyrgyzstan for its endeavours to promote global security, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a statement after meeting the Kyrgyz president on Tuesday.

Orbán praised Kyrgyzstan’s dependable action against terrorist organisations and its pro-peace position. The prime minister said Hungary generally thrived in times of peace and was glad that Kyrgyzstan was “also on the side of peace.”

He said that Hungary, as an EU member, was helping Kyrgyzstan in European political forums to ensure the broadest possible cooperation with the bloc. He noted that bilateral relations have been raised to the level of a strategic partnership. Accordingly, two-way trade is set to double this year, he added.

At their last meeting, the Kyrgyz president said bilateral cooperation should focus on hydropower and agriculture, Orbán said, noting that a Hungarian-Kyrgyz investment fund has been set up to finance the building of a hydroelectric power plant and farm initiatives. Hungarian agricultural and food companies are now present in the country “with good results”, he said.

Orbán visits Kyrgyzstan. Photo: MTI

Meanwhile, Orbán assured the Kyrgyz president that Hungary would support the Kyrgyz initiative to protect mountain culture and way of life at the upcoming Coptic summit in Baku.

Also, 200 Kyrgyz students are studying with a scholarship in Hungary, and Hungary was ready to receive even more students in light of the strong demand.

Orbán said he had expressed his gratitude that Hungarian can now be studied in Kyrgyzstan.

Orbán noted that Hungary joined the Turkic Council in Kyrgyzstan six years ago and has since become a political member of that community. In 2025, an informal Turkish Council meeting will be held in Budapest.

Orbán said Hungarians were the only people from the East that migrated to the West and planted roots here, but they had not forgotten their origins, and always treated the Turkic peoples, including the Kyrgyz, with “friendly and fraternal feelings”.

Orbán visits Kyrgyzstan. Photo: MTI

During his official visit, Orbán and high-level Kyrgyz officials are scheduled to sign several agreements to advance bilateral cooperation, the PM’s press chief said earlier.

Orbán will also participate in a meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Organisation of Turkic States held in Biskek on Wednesday.

read also: Kyrgyz Embassy opened in 2021 in Budapest

Hungary, Kyrgyzstan to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation

Hungary and Kyrgyzstan plan to further develop mutually beneficial cooperation, which has been raised to the level of confirmed strategic partnership, the foreign minister said in Bishkek on Tuesday.

The ministry cited Péter Szijjártó saying that the relevant agreement was signed earlier in the day. Agreements on air transport, customs and justice affairs, as well as higher education scholarships were also signed, he added.

“All this goes to show that Hungary-Kyrgyz cooperation covers an especially broad area,” he said.

Szijjártó said that economic cooperation was a priority and he welcomed record-high bilateral trade last year, which has doubled this year.

“This clearly shows that both Hungarian and Kyrgyz economic players greatly profit from this cooperation,” he said.

He added that work was under way to further develop cooperation in agriculture and food production. Following successful cooperation in the area of maize seeds, he said, chances are high that honey and lamb from Kyrgyzstan will reach European Union markets through Hungarian trading companies.

“We are setting up a Hungarian seed plant here, and a hydropower plant is being built under the arrangements of cooperation between Hungarian and Kyrgyz companies,” he said.

Szijjártó also said that Hungary is popular among Kyrgyz university students, and 200 of them will get a chance to study at Hungarian universities with a scholarship. More than 600 applications have been submitted for these places, mostly in medical and engineering faculties, he said.

“We will develop cooperation between the two countries in the upcoming period, especially in areas linked to environmental protection and boosting the green economy,” he said.

“We are in agreement that all countries must set their respective economies on the path of growth in a responsible way, which means competitiveness and environmental protection must go hand in hand,” he added.

He praised Kyrgyzstan’s resolute action taken against terrorist organisations, and added that the more successful the fight against terrorism was in Central Asia, the fewer migratory waves could be expected in Europe.

“Accordingly, we support the quickest possible ratification of a cooperation pact between Kyrgyzstan and the EU,” he said.

read also: Hungary has “increasingly close” ties with this authoritarian Asian country, says minister