Several Hungarian firms investing in Angola, says Hungarian FM in Luanda

Several Hungarian companies will have the opportunity to undertake investment projects in Angola, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Wednesday.

Business cooperation between Hungary and Angola will mainly focus on agriculture, security technology and energy, Szijjártó told MTI by phone from Luanda.

“Africa is the continent of the future,” he said. “The Hungarian government has launched its strategy of ‘opening to the south’ in order to help as many Hungarian firms as possible to successfully access the African economic area.”

Hungary’s Eximbank has set up a fund of 40 million euros to help Hungarian companies set up production, and research and development capabilities in Angola, while the bank will also provide loans amounting to 135 million euros to promote bilateral trade, Szijjártó said.

Africa’s Portuguese-speaking countries, he said, were a “natural destination” for Hungary’s investment strategy. “Angola is the most important [among these] since mutual sympathy between the two countries is a legacy of Angolans who, in previous times, graduated from Hungarian universities,” the minister said. “Personal ties serve as a basis for cooperation between countries,” he said, and added that the government would increase the number of scholarships to Angolan students to 100 a year.

Szijjártó also announced that

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is scheduled to pay an official visit to Angola in late March.

As we wrote yesterday, Hungary will implement “the largest foreign investment project in its history”, worth EUR 16.2m, in Uganda, foreign minister told by phone from Kampala on yesterday.

Source: MTI