Asia

Hungary benefiting significantly from cooperation with Japan, says FM Szijjártó in Tokyo

japan hungary

Hungary is benefiting significantly from its cooperation with Japan, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said after talks with his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, on Tuesday.

Speaking to public media after the meeting in Japan, Szijjártó, who is the first foreign minister to visit the island country this year, said Hungarian-Japanese cooperation was based on mutual respect and friendship. “This is also true of economic cooperation,” he said. “Japanese businesses have trust in Hungary and the Hungarian people.”

Szijjártó said this trust was reflected in the fact that a total of 23 Japanese companies invested in their bases in Hungary last year with a view to avoiding layoffs.

The combined investments of 25 billion forints (EUR 68m) were supported by 9 billion forints in government grants and saved a total of 15,600 jobs, he said.

Suzuki’s plant in Esztergom, in northern Hungary, will be one of the bases to undergo major developments, Szijjártó said, adding that other auto industry players as well as the food sector were also set to see tens of billions of forints’ worth of investments by Japanese businesses over the coming months.

Meanwhile, the minister also highlighted Hungary and Japan‘s cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, noting that

Hungary has received millions of doses of medicines from Japan.

On another subject, Szijjártó said Hungary will take part in the 2025 World Expo in Osaka, adding that the Hungarian government has decided to open a consulate in the western Japanese city.

“We are really pushing for closer cooperation between the European Union and Japan, and for them to sign an investment protection agreement,”

Szijjártó said. He added that it was “even more important” for the East Asia Free Trade Area, of which Japan is a member, to enter into direct cooperation with the EU as quickly as possible.

AS we wrote today, Minister Szijjártó also met Tamayo Murakawa, Japan’s minister in charge of the Olympics, details HERE.

Hungarian FM Szijjártó meets Japanese minister for Olympics

Tokyo-2020

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Tuesday met Tamayo Murakawa, Japan’s minister in charge of the Olympics.

In a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday after the meeting in Japan, Szijjártó said preparations for the Olympics were now more complex than ever, adding the world was “rooting” for its success.

“There are 136 days until what will hopefully be the opening ceremony,” he said.

Preparations for the participation of Hungarian athletes have been made and the embassy’s staff will be increased during the Games, he said. Six Japanese cities will be hosting Hungarian athletes in the run-up to the event, and Hungarian sportspeople in eleven sports will train in-situ, he said.

“It’s certain that athletes … will have very serious testing obligations,” he said, though current rules state that athletes will not be required to be vaccinated. Hungarian athletes, he noted, would be vaccinated, however.

Athletes, the minister said, will follow strict rules, including the routes they take in the city.

A key question is whether spectators will be allowed and, if so, whether foreign spectators will be able to attend events,

Szijjártó said. The relevant decision is expected to be made sometime this month, while a decision on the density of spectators in various sports facilities will be made in April, he added.

A decision on whether international spectators will be allowed to attend the Tokyo Olympics Games this summer will be taken by the end of March, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday.

Orbán
Read alsoWill Budapest host the Olympics in 2032?

Ten years after Fukushima, Japan remembers ‘man-made’ nuclear disaster

atomic energy paks radioactive

When a huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, devastating towns and triggering nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima, a stunned world watched the chaotic struggle to contain the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

An onslaught of waves sparked by the 9.0-magnitude quake crashed into the northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and crippling the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. More than 160,000 residents fled as radiation spewed into the air.

At the time, some – including Prime Minister Naoto Kan – feared Tokyo would need to be evacuated, or worse.

“Fukushima is stamped for the rest of the history of nuclear energy,”

said Kiyoshi Kurokawa, head of an investigation that concluded the disaster was “profoundly man-made”.

The government has spent about $300 billion (32.1 trillion yen) to rebuild the tsunami-devastated Tohoku region, but areas around the Fukushima plant remain off-limits, worries about radiation levels linger and many who left have settled elsewhere. Decommissioning of the crippled plant will take decades and billions of dollars.

Japan is again debating the role of nuclear power in its energy mix as the resource-poor country aims to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050 to fight global warming. But an NHK public TV survey showed 85% of the public worries about nuclear accidents.

Energy policy was left in limbo after Shinzo Abe led his pro-nuclear energy Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) back to power the year after the disaster, ousting the novice Democratic Party of Japan, whose image was tainted by its handling of Fukushima.

“They sort of left things adrift,” said Tobias Harris, senior vice president at consultancy Teneo and author of a book about Abe.

‘RESULT OF COLLUSION’

Kurokawa’s commission, appointed by parliament, concluded in 2012 that the Fukushima accident was “the result of collusion between the government, regulators and Tokyo Electric Power Co” and a lack of governance.

Abe resigned last year, citing poor health, and his successor, Yoshihide Suga, has announced a goal of net carbon neutrality by 2050.

Proponents say nuclear power is vital to decarbonization. Critics say cost, safety and the challenge of storing nuclear waste are all reasons to avoid it.

“Those talking about atomic power are people in the ‘nuclear village’, who want to protect their vested interests,” former Prime Minister Kan told a news conference last week.

The mass demonstrations against nuclear power seen in the wake of 3/11 have faded, but distrust lingers.

A February Asahi newspaper survey found that nationwide, 53% are opposed to restarting reactors, compared with 32% in favour. In Fukushima, only 16% backed bringing restarting units.

“Ten years have passed and some people have forgotten. The zeal is gone,” said Yu Uchiyama, a University of Tokyo political science professor. “Restarts are not happening, so people think if they just wait, nuclear power will disappear.”

NUCLEAR FUTURE BLEAK?

Only nine of Japan’s 33 remaining commercial reactors have been approved for restarts under post-Fukushima safety standards and only four are operating, compared with 54 before the disaster.

Nuclear power supplied just 6% of Japan’s energy needs in the first half of 2020 compared with 23.1% for renewable sources – far behind Germany’s 46.3% – and nearly 70% for fossil fuels.

Extending the lifespan of Japan’s 33 existing commercial reactors to 60 years, there would be only 18 in 2050 and none by 2069, said Takeo Kikkawa, an adviser to the government on energy policy. Newer business lobbies are pushing for renewable energy.

“Japan is a resource-poor country so we should not casually abandon the nuclear option,” Kikkawa told a media briefing. “But in reality, the future of nuclear power is bleak.”

(1 Japanese yen = $0.0094)

csernobil
Read alsoThe story of the only Hungarian to survive Chernobyl without getting ill from radiation

Reimagining diplomacy in the post-COVID World: an Indian perspective

India-coronavirus

BY S. JAISHANKAR, minister of external affairs of India

We enter 2021, hoping to put the COVID-19 pandemic behind us. While each society has dealt with it uniquely, global diplomacy will nevertheless focus on common concerns and shared lessons. Much of that revolves around the nature of globalization.

Our generation has been conditioned to think of that largely in economic terms. The general sense is one of trade, finance, services, communication, technology and mobility. This expresses the interdependence and interpenetration of our era. What COVID, however, brought out was the deeper indivisibility of our existence. Real globalization is more about pandemics, climate change and terrorism. They must constitute the core of diplomatic deliberations.

As we saw in 2020, overlooking such challenges comes at a huge cost.

Despite its many benefits, the world has also seen strong reactions to globalization. Much of that arises from unequal benefits, between and within societies. Regimes and dispensations that are oblivious to such happenings are therefore being challenged. We must ensure that this is not about winners and losers, but about nurturing sustainable communities everywhere.

COVID-19 has also redefined our understanding of security.

Until now, nations thought largely in military, intelligence, economic, and perhaps, cultural terms.

Today, they will not only assign greater weight to health security but increasingly worry about trusted and resilient supply chains. The stresses of the COVID-19 era brought out the fragility of our current situation. Additional engines of growth are needed to de-risk the global economy, as indeed is more transparency and market-viability.

Multilateral institutions have not come out well from this experience. Quite apart from controversies surrounding them, there was not even a pretense of a collective response to the most serious global crisis since 1945. This is cause for serious introspection. Reforming multilateralism is essential to creating effective solutions.

Fashioning a robust response to the COVID-19 challenge is set to dominate global diplomacy in 2021. In its own way, India has set an example. That it has done by defying prophets of doom and creating the health wherewithal to minimize its fatality rate and maximize its recovery rate. An international comparison of these numbers tells its own story. Not just that, India also stepped forward as the pharmacy of the world, supplying medicines to more than 150 countries, many as grants.

As our nation embarks on a mass vaccination effort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s assurance that it would help make vaccines accessible and affordable to the world is already being implemented. The first consignments of Made in India vaccines have reached not only our neighbors like Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sri Lanka but partners far beyond like Brazil and Morocco.

Other key global challenges today deserve similar attention. As a central participant in reaching the Paris agreement, India has stood firm with regard to combating climate change. Its renewable energy targets have multiplied, its forest cover has grown, its bio-diversity has expanded and its focus on water utilization has increased. Practices honed at home are now applied to its development partnerships in Africa and elsewhere. By example and energy, Indian diplomacy is leading the way, including through the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure initiatives.

The challenge of countering terrorism and radicalization is also a formidable one. As a society, long subjected to cross-border terrorist attacks, India has been active in enhancing global awareness and encouraging coordinated action. It will be a major focus in India’s diplomacy as a non-permanent member of the Security Council and in forums like FATF and G20.

Among the takeaways from the COVID-19 experience has been the power of the digital domain. Whether it was contact tracing or the provision of financial and food support, India’s digital focus after 2014 has yielded impressive results. The “work from anywhere” practice was as strongly enhanced by COVID-19 as the “study from home” one. All these will help expand the toolkit of India’s development programs abroad and assist the recovery of many partners.

2020 also saw the largest repatriation exercise in history–the return home of more than 4 million Indians.

This alone brings out the importance of mobility in contemporary times. As smart manufacturing and the knowledge economy take deeper root, the need for trusted talent will surely grow. Facilitating its movement through diplomacy is in the global interest.

A return to normalcy in 2021 will mean safer travel, better health, economic revival and digitally driven services. They will be expressed in new conversations and fresh understandings. The world after COVID-19 will be more multi-polar, pluralistic and rebalanced. And India, with its experiences, will help make a difference.

india vaccine
Read alsoWorld’s largest vaccine drive kickstarted in India

Corvinus University of Budapest establishes Eurasia Center to contribute to the basis of economic and political decisions

Corvinus university

The Corvinus University of Budapest is expanding with a strategically important new research center. The primary goal of the Eurasia Center is to contribute to the basis of economic and political decisions related to the region through its international research, to establish collaborations with other domestic and foreign institutions, and to provide continuous information on current news of the world’s most populous and fastest growing region.

The research of the Eurasia Center, established at Corvinus University, focuses on the geopolitical, economic and social processes in the region, with particular reference to integration efforts such as the Belt and Road Initiative. China’s project, also known as the “New Silk Road,” aims to enable dynamic economic growth in the region by developing Eurasian trade infrastructure.

“Today we are witnessing a transformation of the world order, where a new multi-centred leadership seems to be emerging, while at the same time the unity of Europe and Asia is gaining new meaning. This means that the 21st century could be the century of Eurasia. Therefore, the main mission of the Eurasia Centre is to monitor and research this region, with which we want not only to help decision-makers, but also to provide credible information to the Hungarian population to better understand the opportunity we meet,” said Levente Horváth, Director of the Eurasia Center.

In addition to conducting research on current issues in the “supercontinent”, the Eurasia Center provides a forum for sharing scientific results, exchanging views, and participating in international scientific life through its researchers.

Another important goal of the Center is to spread knowledge and provide clear information about current events in the area. In addition to books, the Eurasia Center also publishes its own scientific journal (Eurasian Review) and studies, organizes conferences, workshops, webinars, and podcasts with renowned experts in the region. Through its researchers, it takes part in various educational programs of Corvinus University and other higher education institutions, and seeks to establish effective collaborations with other domestic and foreign institutions, such as Fudan University.

In addition to China, the new headquarters of Corvinus University in Budapest will focus on Russia, Central Asia and neighboring regions. Its aim is to integrate the knowledge related to these regions into political-economic decisions, thus deepening the political, economic and cultural relations between Hungary and the Eurasian region.

fudan-university smapse
Read alsoHungary, China to cooperate on establishment of Fudan Hungary University in Budapest

Eight Hungarian companies to get EUR 36m support for investments abroad

koka_szijjártó

Eight companies will receive 13 billion forints (EUR 36m) in state support to carry out investments worth 25 billion forints abroad, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Wednesday.

The government has launched its foreign markets economic growth scheme with the aim to help Hungarian companies set up production, research and service capacities abroad, Szijjártó told an event where the certificates were presented. The government has allocated 70 billion forints for the scheme, 157 companies have applied for funding and a total of 28 recipients have been announced so far, he added.

These companies will receive 42 billion forints for investments worth 80 billion forints, to be carried out mostly in the Western Balkans, he said.

In addition to the Western Balkans, investments will also be carried out in Austria and Singapore, he added.

Interesting coincidence?

One of the ‘winner’ companies was the MPP Magyarország Informatikai Szolgáltató Zrt. The company’s CEO is János Kóka who served the Socialist-Liberal Gyurcsány Government as Minister of Economy and Transport (2004-2007). 

János Kóka (born 5 July 1972) is a Hungarian businessman, private investor, IT entrepreneur and manager of various enterprises, who served as Minister of Economy and Transport between 2004 and 2007.
Budapest, Hungary. February 17, 2021. State secretary Levente Magyar and former Socialist-Liberal Minister János Kóka. Photo: MTI

As we wrote on Tuesday, a EUR 287m electronic road toll system to be built in Indonesia by Hungarian company Roatex will be Hungary’s biggest technology export so far, details HERE.

pipeline
Read alsoHungary to complete pipeline for Azeri gas by October

PM Orbán has talks with deputy prime minister of Uzbekistan

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Uzbekistan's Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov in Budapest

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Sardor Umurzakov in his office on Tuesday and discussed protection against the coronavirus epidemic and developing economic links.

Orbán expressed thanks for Uzbekistan’s cooperation in the efforts againts the epidemic which involved sending 650,000 protective masks to Hungary in the spring, Bertalan Havasi said. At the same time, Hungary helped Uzbek citizens return home after the outbreak of the pandemic, he added

The sides were in agreement that it is worth investing in the development of Hungarian-Uzbek economic ties. Hungary can participate in water managment and renewable energy projects, the modernisation of the electricity network, and agricultural investments, such as building food processing capacities, he said. Uzbekistan has 50 years of experience in the peaceful utilisation of nuclear energy and it is the world’s seventh largest uranium supplier, he added.

The talks also covered exchange schemes in education and Orbán said that

Hungary had offered scholarships at Hungarian universities to 100 Uzbek students annually until the end of 2023.

Umurzakov is in Budapest to attend the 6th co-chairmen’s meeting of the Hungarian-Uzbek economic cooperation intergovernmental committee.

Hungarian, Uzbek agriculture ministers meet in Budapest

Hungarian Agriculture Minister István Nagy met with his Uzbek counterpart Jamshid Khodjaev in Budapest on Tuesday.

The sides were joined by Balázs Győrffy, the chairman of the National Agriculture Chamber (NAK), the agriculture ministry said.

Nagy said at the meeting that Hungary is ready to step up cooperation with Uzbekistan in agriculture, especially in the areas of cattle and poultry farming. He added that partnerships could be established involving seeds and aquaculture.

Hungary can play a key role in supporting Uzbekistan’s efforts to become self-sufficient in livestock farming, he said. Hungarian companies could benefit from involvement in the processing of Uzbek raw materials, he added.

Nagy and Khodjaev signed a memorandum of understanding that will create more opportunities for Hungarian food companies and farmers.

Uzbek-Hungarian business forum in Tashkent
Read alsoUzbek-Hungarian business forum in Tashkent: Hungary able to export over EUR 100 bn annually

Indonesian investment biggest Hungarian tech export so far, says Minister Szijjártó

szijjártó indonesia hungary foreign minister

A 103 billion forint (EUR 287m) electronic road toll system to be built in Indonesia by Hungarian company Roatex will be Hungary’s biggest technology export so far, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Szijjártó told a press conference that the project, expected to be completed by 2023, was a “milestone” in Hungary’s foreign economic strategy. He said that 70 percent of the “technology and skills” for the project would be Hungarian.

Indonesia has 2,500 kms of highways, and this is expected to rise to 4,800kms, he added.

He said Indonesia was an important element of Hungary’s strategy of opening up to the East which started 11 years ago. The minister added that there were no unresolved issues to burden bilateral relations.

Talks are under way concerning a 50 million dollar subsidised loan programme under which Hungarian companies would build a meteorological and climate monitoring system in Indonesia, the minister said.

Szijjártó noted that Hungary offered scholarships to Indonesian students, adding that 1,200 were interested in studying at Hungarian universities and colleges this year. Currently 13 Hungarian universities are in cooperation with 23 Indonesian institutions, he said, adding that in view of high demand the Hungarian government was ready to increase the number of scholarships offered.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi noted two agreements were signed during the talks, one aimed at stepping up diplomatic capacities, and another designed to facilitate a 500 million dollar Indonesia-Hungary investment fund to finance future developments, including digitisation and public infrastructure projects.

She said bilateral trade turnover was 212 million dollars in 2020, up 13 percent from the previous year.

The two ministers also agreed that their countries would make bilateral trade more balanced and sustainable in the long run, to which end a central warehouse for Indonesian products would be set up in Budapest.

Haris Ahmed
Read alsoFurther investigation on Bangladesh mob boss’ business and money laundering in Hungary

Bangladesh bought spy tech with the help of a non-existent Hungarian company?

Spy Asia Hungary money

Neither the Interior Ministry nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade investigates the Hungarian relevance of the unlawful acquisition of spy tech done by the Army of Bangladesh. The younger brother of the country’s military commander lived in Hungary for years using pseudonyms and helped even the surgery of the Bangladeshi conjoined twins.

We recently published an article about how Al Jazeera has uncovered the truth behind Haris Ahmed’s false identity and whereabouts. As the investigation concluded, they found out that the international criminal carries out his dirty business from Budapest, Hungary, and was rumoured to even have influence over Hungarian international relations.

Haris Ahmed has been on the most wanted international criminals list of Interpol for a few years, and he is

still among the most wanted criminals in Bangladesh.

He was convicted for his involvement in the 1996 murder of Mustafizur Rahman Mustafa. He fled from his sentence and ended up in Hungary where he has been operating several local enterprises since 2015, which, according to the experts asked by Al Jazeera, are common practices to help launder money from illegal deals. 444, who helped the investigation of Al Jazeera in Hungary, wrote that Haris arrived in Budapest five years ago

under the false identity of Mohammad Hasan.

And while his escape from Bangladesh was staged by his brother, his stay in Hungary was helped by the former honorary consul to Bangladesh, Ambrus Nyerges.

Haris tried to make deals between Hungary and the Bangladeshi army. He first wanted to sell beds and later Hungarian ammunition to the foreign military.

According to index.hu,

the Bangladeshi Army bought spy tech capable of mass interception from an Israeli company

even though the two countries do not have diplomatic or trade relationships. The contract says that the army used a Hungarian company to hide the Israeli source. However, PicSix Hungary does not even exist, but the Bangladeshi Army still states that the equipment is from Hungary.

According to the investigation of Direkt36 and Al Jazeera, Haris Ahmed played a key role in the purchase. Therefore, index.hu sent many questions to the Interior Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They received the same answer: PicSix Hungary does not exist, so they cannot investigate their activity.

Interestingly, the leader of the Bangladeshi army,

Aziz Ahmed, popped up before in the Hungarian media

when he allowed a Hungarian team of doctors to conduct their separation surgery on conjoined twins in the military hospital of Dakka. Honorary consul dr. Gergely Pataki and neurosurgeon dr. András Csókay both were members of the group, and Mr Pataki received a decoration from Aziz Ahmed after the successful surgery.

Hungarian dietary supplement brand NAVITA is conquering the Vietnamese market

products_featured_xmas-bundle-81

Sponsored content

Nominated by the Vietnam Association of Functional Food, NAVITA products were awarded by Golden Prize of Public Health.

What is NAVITA?

Using the treasures of nature for healing is the same age as humanity. Thanks to modern scientific research, many folk observations have now been confirmed, and in many cases, it was possible to identify the active ingredients and understand the mechanism of action. Well, there is a Hungarian company armed with this knowledge and uses it to Our advantage. This company is called NAVITA. A modern, Hungarian dietary supplement brand. But how do they do it?

The meeting of the Eastern and Western healing techniques

New information has revolutionized the market of dietary supplements. By producing novel products with a high plant active ingredient content, and with the exact knowledge of which herb’s  which component is the most active and appropriate, the healing power of nature can be enhanced, and we can benefit from it, both in the fields of anti-aging and disease prevention. And this is where NAVITA stands out, deeply specialized in premium anti-aging, healthcare and beauty products. Even the name of the company reflects this modern attitude with an acronym: “NA” stands for natural, and “VITA” means life. NAVITA thus expresses that to live is to be in harmony with nature. The mainly focus of NAVITA is on three essential areas of human health:

  1. Immune system support,
  2. Antioxidants against oxidative stress,
  3. Increasing body regeneration.

In favor of this, NAVITA is continuously searching for medicinal mushrooms, herbs and spices from all over the world. Premium quality is due to modern, environment friendly technological solutions such as supercritical liquid carbon-dioxide extraction and freeze-drying (lyophilization), which retain the original molecular bonds of the plants’ active ingredients.

NAVITA wins audience award in Vietnam

In 16 July, 2020, NAVITA products were nominated by the Vietnam Association of Functional Food for the Golden Prize of Public Health, which was awarded to several of NAVITA supplements.

The most popular product was STEMAX (one of the products that customers used for supporting their body during cancer treatment, mostly against the side effects of chemotherapy), which filled a niche in the market of supplementary products in Vietnam, thus the Ministry of Health is willing to grant a certificate to confirm its effectiveness and value.  (You can find more information about STEMAX by clicking here.)

The award means a lot to NAVITA on the way to become a well-known and prestigious dietary supplement company in the fields of health, anti-aging and disease prevention. NAVITA is one of the few, if not the only Hungarian company that made such a huge and positive impact on customers in Vietnam in such a short time. This opens the gate to be able to reach and help even more people, who are seeking for natural solutions for their specific health conditions.

Further investigation on Bangladesh mob boss’ business and money laundering in Hungary

Haris Ahmed

We recently published an article about how Al Jazeera has uncovered the truth behind Haris Ahmed’s false identity and whereabouts. As the investigation concluded they found out that the international criminal carries out his dirty business from Budapest, Hungary and was rumoured to even have influence over Hungarian international relations.

You can read in our previous article, that Haris Ahmed has been on the most wanted international criminals list of Interpol for a few years and he is still among the most wanted criminals in Bangladesh. He was convicted for his involvement in the 1996 murder of Mustafizur Rahman Mustafa. He fled his sentence and ended up in Hungary where he has been operating several local enterprises since 2015, which, according to the experts asked by Al Jazeera, are common practice to help launder money from illegal deals.

As the false identity of Haris Ahmed has been revealed, Hungarian news also started to dig deeper into the case.

According to 24, the criminal group, which Haris Ahmed is a member of, is linked to and works with the Bangladeshi secret services and the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. The criminal organisation offers government contracts and high positions in exchange for money, which is Haris’ primary income laundered by his enterprises. When 444 asked the Central Bank of Hungary, the bank told the investigator that the currency exchange service of Haris Ahmed does not have the necessary permits to operate as currency exchange service, further serving as evidence of the illegal deals going on behind closed doors.

Haris Ahmed Currency Exchange
Haris Ahmed’s currency exchange in Budapest Source: Video still from youtube.com/watch?v=a6v_levbUN4

444, who helped the investigation of Al Jazeera in Hungary wrote that Haris arrived in Budapest five years ago under the false identity of Mohammad Hasan. And while his escape from Bangladesh was staged by his brother, his stay in Hungary was helped by the former honorary consul to Bangladesh, Ambrus Nyerges. In 2015, Ambrus Nyerges wrote a letter to the Hungarian National Directorate-general for Aliens Policing. He told them to evaluate the application of Mohammad Hasan (Haris’ false identity) positively. As far as the honorary consul knew, the businessman wanted to open a restaurant and hostel in Budapest. Nyerges argued,

“we believed that his successful businesses would serve as a future reference for other Bangladeshi businessmen looking to invest in Hungary”.

444 asked him whether he knew the real identity of Mohammad Hasan at that time, but he did not reply.

Haris tried to make deals between Hungary and the Bangladeshi army. He first wanted to sell beds and later Hungarian ammunition to the foreign military. Al Jazeera presented a hidden camera footage where he mentions this deal and he was heard saying: “If anything goes down in Hungary, then I know about it. […]”. Ambrus Nyerges, the honorary consul, was already talking about such possible businesses when Haris arrived in Hungary. He said in an interview shortly released after his letter to the Directorate that “I am glad that there are special Hungarian products that could be in the interest of the Bangladeshi army. […] It may take time, but we will soon have an excellent chance of doing business with the Bangladeshi army”.

“The political relation between Hungary and Bangladesh is in balance, which has been showing signs of dynamic development recently,” – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs answered 444.

The Ministry also said about Haris’ planned bunk bed and ammunition business, that it has no contracts with either Haris Ahmed or his companies. The Ministry of Defence also wrote that they had never been in contact with Haris Ahmed, had no knowledge of the deals and had not been involved.

Business Card
Haris Ahmed’s fake business card Source: Video still from youtube.com/watch?v=a6v_levbUN4

24 asked the Hungarian Department of Interior and received the answer from the Hungarian National Directorate-general for Aliens Policing. The authorities wrote that “according to the legislation, they can only give information to the appropriate persons determined by law,” as an answer to whether they will deport Haris Ahmed.

The Press Department of the Hungarian National Police Headquarters told the agency that they conduct an international investigation about the case’s circumstances.

Arrest in Progress Police Rendőrség Letartóztatás Detention
Read alsoThree jailbirds with one stone; Hungarian Police in action – VIDEO

Szalay-Bobrovniczky Vince
Read alsoCovered-up car crash of Hungarian ex-ambassador to Austria unveiled

Featured image: Video still from youtube.com/watch?v=a6v_levbUN4

Hungary requested Covid-19 vaccine from Bangladesh?

coronavirus vaccine

Hungary has requested Bangladesh for 5,000 shots of Covid-19 vaccine, Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam told the parliament on yesterday.

According to The Daily Star,

“Hungary has requested us for 5,000 shots of Covid-19 vaccine. We will provide them vaccine from the stock we have. “

Shahriar Alam said.

Bangladesh is collecting Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produced at the Serum Institute of India. The company has sent the first batch of five million doses, part of 30 million doses ordered by Bangladesh.

As we wrote before, the Hungarian government became the first in the EU who buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, also Hungary is became the first EU member to approve China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Hungary has five Covid-19 vaccines approved by Hungary’s drug authority: Pfizer, Moderna AstraZeneca, Sputnik-V and Sinopharm.

The Bdnews24.com said, Bangladesh’s ties with Hungary deepened in in 2016 when PM Sheikh Hasina made a state visit to Budapest.

Hungary was one of the first European countries to recognise Bangladesh as an independent nation following the 1971 Liberation War.

coronavirus vaccine
Read alsoHungary requested Covid-19 vaccine from Bangladesh?

Hungarian firm awarded contract to build Indonesia electronic toll network

M1 motorway

A Hungarian company has been awarded a contract to build and operate Indonesia’s national electronic toll payment network, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Saturday.

The company, Roatex, will be investing 300 million US dollars into the project, making it the largest-ever technological export order for a Hungarian firm, Péter Szijjártó said on Facebook.

The minister said the investment was a testament to the global competitiveness of Hungary’s technological sector, noting that Roatex had beaten a slew of European and Asian competitors to the contract.

Szijjártó said he was proud of Roatex’s success and “glad to have helped them along”.

The Hungarian government will continue to be an ally to every Hungarian company prepared to invest in foreign markets, he said.

Daily News Hungary
Read alsoHungary-Indonesia trade turnover up 29 pc over ten years, says FM Szijjártó

Tenfold increase in Chinese rail freight traffic at Záhony

Chinese freight container trains

There was a nearly tenfold increase in the number of Chinese freight container trains arriving in Hungary through the Záhony transshipment station last year compared to 2019, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Monday.

Rail Cargo Operator Hungaria (RCO-HU) registered a steep increase in intermodal rail transport from the Far East since August 2020, Imre Kovács, Rail Cargo Hungaria board chairman and Rail Cargo Austria board member, told the paper.

Six to eight trains carrying 45-50 containers arrived monthly from China to the European Union border at Záhony in the third and fourth quarters of 2020 as against a total of four intermodal trains in 2019, the paper said.

Compared to the first half of 2020, the number of containers transported as rail freight between China and Europe increased by 41.7 percent.

A station in Malaszewicze on the Polish-Belarus border can hardly cope with receiving some two-hundred Chinese container trains monthly and the development of Záhony is expected to resolve the issue of handling further increase in traffic.

Kovács said Rail Cargo Hungaria expects a significant increase in traffic based on these developments and the fact that the EU announced 2021 as the European Year of Rail gives further reason for optimism.

huawei_logo
Read alsoHuawei’s economic influence in Hungary growing – study

The largest intermodal railway terminal in Europe is being built on the New Silk Road in Hungary – VIDEO

container

The construction of the largest and most modern railway intermodal combi terminal in Europe has begun at the gates of the European Union in Fényeslitke (Hungary), near the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. The East-West Gate (EWG) will be the continent’s first land-based intermodal combi terminal based on green technology using its own 5G network. The theoretical capacity of the terminal is 1 million TEU per year. Built at one of the strategic points in the economic corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative, the EWG can play a key role in delivering goods between Asia and Europe on an alternative route, faster and in larger quantities than before.

On the EU side of the border of the European Union and Ukraine, in Fényeslitke, the construction of the largest and most modern intermodal combi terminal based on track change has started on 125 hectares – the construction of the substructure of the terminal and the normal railway connection are currently in progress.

Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the EWG intermodal terminal, as the western gateway to the New Silk Road, offers a faster alternative route to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Germany for freight traffic from Asia than the current land and maritime routes.

The EWG, which is being built at the meeting point of the Russian wide-gauge and the European narrow-gauge railways in Hungary, is also a new, high-capacity opportunity for the export traffic to Asia from Western Europe.

In addition, it may also have an important role in the better utilization of the Trans-Siberian Railway Network which has undergone significant improvements in the recent years.

The trial operation of the facility is scheduled to begin in January 2022, while its final handover is scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.

The EUR 61 million investment is financed entirely from private sources. The Hungarian Government has provided EUR 8.2 million to EWG as job creation subsidy.

There will be built 5 wide-gauge and 5 narrow-gauge, 850 m long craneable tracks at the EWG terminal, therefore it will be possible to serve four 740 m long trains at the same time.

EWG is the first land-based intermodal combi terminal on the continent which will use its own 5G network for internal communication and operation of its technology devices.

The facility will be powered by green technology, in line with the EU’s rail and climate strategy. A high-performance solar park as well as a heat pump system will provide power, and only electric terminal tractors and e-cars will be used in the terminal area.

The largest intermodal railway combi terminal of Europe is being built on the New Silk Road
Photo: East-West Gate (EWG)

In addition to its fast and efficient loading technology compared to similar terminals in Poland and Belarus, and its free areas for further development, the EWG will have the significant advantage of handling ATEX- and ADR-certified 45-tonne cranes with dangerous goods and special handling materials – such as gas tank containers and chemicals – can also be transshipped, furthermore the terminal is also suitable for craning conventional public road semi-trailers onto rail wagons. The theoretical capacity of EWG with the forthcoming Hungarian railway line developments (the railway line “V0” bypassing Budapest) will be 1 million TEU per year. At the time of handover, the container and combi capacity will be 300-500 thousand TEU units.

The terminal will provide a full range of logistics services and when the operations starts, it will offer customers 15,000 square meters of leasable warehouse space. On the available unbuilt areas, an additional 500,000 square meters of warehouse, assembly or production plant can be established if required.

railjet vienna budapest railway
Read alsoBudapest-Vienna railway line to be renovated soon!

Hungary Helps aid program supporting 100,000 people all over the world awaits volunteers

Hungary Helps volunteer Africa Asia
The government’s Hungary Helps aid programme has so far provided support to more than 100,000 people around the world and is now calling for volunteers, a government official told public broadcaster Kossuth Radio on Sunday.
 
The government launched its international aid programme in early 2017 with aiming to help persecuted Christians, Tristan Azbej, the state secretary responsible for aiding persecuted Christians, said.

The programme now calls for volunteers
 
willing to give English classes
 
and holding workshops online to schools and family support centres in Africa or the Middle East, Krisztina Karman, director of the volunteer programme, told the radio programme.
 
 
Volunteers would be welcome to travel to the African continent after the pandemic had been contained to help out in hospitals and children’s homes, she said, adding that engineers would also be welcome to help with construction projects. Further details are available at on******@on**********.hu, she said.
 
As we reported before, in 2019, the government’s Hungary Helps scheme, which coordinates humanitarian efforts in crisis areas, has attracted much respect in North Rhine-Westphalia. State secretary in charge of persecuted Christians Tristan Azbej held talks then in Duesseldorf with the local government minister in charge of European Union affairs Stephan Holthoff-Pfoertner, as well as several senior Landtag members and church leaders. It depended on the political affiliation of the negotiating partners to what extent they represented the “west European and German pro-migration position” but
 
some politicians from the Landtag shared the Hungarian view that mass migration has serious security risks,
 
for instance due to the activities of human smugglers, he said.
 
The Hungarian government’s anti-migration policy was judged differently by the different negotiating partners but “we could always find some shared views” and
 
everybody said Hungary’s humanitarian policies and the Hungary Helps scheme were exemplary,
 
he added.

South Korea’s Iljin Materials to build EUR 10.7 copper foil plant in Hungary

Iljin Materials to build HUF 3.8 bn copper foil plant in Hungary

South Korea’s Iljin Materials will build a 3.8 billion forint (EUR 10.7) copper foil plant in Gödöllő, on the outskirts of the capital, to supply Samsung SDI’s growing local production capacity for electric vehicle batteries, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said on Monday.

The government is supporting the construction of the plant, which will have an annual capacity of about 10,000 tonnes, with a 722 million forint grant, Szijjártó said.

Several South Korean battery manufacturers have set up plants in Hungary with the largest capacities in the world, the minister said.

Hungary last year secured ten investments by electric auto sector companies, Szijjártó said, adding that Iljin Materials’ investment was the eighth one in the country this year in spite of the pandemic.

Hungary is the world’s tenth largest exporter of electric vehicle batteries,

Szijjártó said, adding that if the country continued to attract investments at the current rate, it had a realistic shot at reaching the top five.

Companies like Iljin Materials are allies of Hungary, he said, underlining the importance of keeping the country running by providing jobs to people.

He said the coronavirus pandemic was set to bring about a new global economic order “which will begin with … fierce competition in which investments will be worth gold”.

The minister said companies reeling from the pandemic were looking for new investment destinations in which they could establish a market presence quicker and more effectively.

Iljin Materials CEO Kim Byoung Chan said

Hungary was becoming a European hub for electromobility, adding that the copper foil plant was “just the beginning” and that the company would expand its investment in Hungary.

budapest tourist tourism panorama unsplash
Read alsoChicken paprikash and easy-going people: a Korean student’s impressions of Hungary

Hungary economy set for capacity boost in Q2 2021, says Hungarian FM Szijjártó

szijjártó-minister

Hungary is expected to see an increase in economic capacity from the second quarter of 2021 after businesses begin running the new technologies and machinery they invested in through the government’s investment support scheme, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said on Tuesday.

The government has supported the investments of 1,338 Hungarian companies with grants totalling 336 billion forints (EUR 932.0m) in the recent period, Szijjártó said at his annual hearing in parliament’s economic committee.

The companies’ investments are worth a combined 824 billion forints and have saved 264,500 jobs, he added.

The minister noted that

during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Union increased the limit on state aid for investments to 800,000 euros.

Under this scheme 904 companies have invested a total of 421 billion forints which the government has matched with 201 billion, he said. As a result a total of 154,200 jobs have been saved, he noted.

Szijjártó noted that as the EU temporarily lifted the 800,000 euro threshold, the Hungarian government disbursed grants totalling 70 billion forints. In that phase, 71 businesses made investments worth a combined 204 billion forints. The scheme helped preserve a total of 60,000 jobs, the minister said.

He noted the continuation of investment incentive schemes launched before the outbreak of the pandemic in Hungary. These so far have yielded 73 agreements on investments worth a total of 2 billion euros that are creating 8,000 jobs, Szijjártó said. Most foreign investors, 14, are German, followed by 13 American and 9 Chinese peers, he said.

Read also: 

Szijjártó calls on EU to resume free trade talks with 3 Far East countries

Also today, Szijjártó was attending a conference of EU and South East Asian foreign ministers. The government has asked the European Union to resume free trade talks with Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, he told.

The minister said the pandemic had accelerated vast changes in the global economy and politics that were already under way, providing an opportunity to “strengthen East-West cooperation based on mutual respect and common interests”. He said

Hungary’s economy was among the world’s most open, “so we have an interest in ensuring world trade is as free and fair as possible.”

This, he added, is why EU free trade agreements with Singapore and Vietnam were the first to be ratified.

The greatest global economic development over the past few years was the formation in South East Asia of the world’s largest free trade area, providing new outlets for the export-oriented Hungarian economy.

workers-in-hungary
Read alsoHungarian net wage growth slows in September: 718 euros – UPDATE