Government would like to boost Hungarian economy with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and other Turkic states
The Turkic Investment Fund offers great opportunities for Hungary to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Turkic states and may generate new investments, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Budapest on Friday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also met Baghdad Amreyev, head of the Turkic Joint Investment Fund, for talks in his office, the PM’s press chief said on Friday.
The investment fund will be the most important joint financial institution of the Organization of Turkic States, which aims at mobilising the economic potentials of its members, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan, as well as Hungary and Turkmenistan as observer states, and to strengthen their trade and economic cooperation, Bertalan Havasi said.
The Turkic Joint Investment Fund was launched with capital of 350 million US dollars, primarily with the aim of supporting projects by small and medium-sized businesses, he added. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
He told a joint press conference with the fund’s head, Baghdad Amrayev, that central Asia’s role has grown recently, partly due to the European energy crisis. The region is rich in energy resources and harbours serious growth potential, he said. Trade volume with members of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) has grown 2.5-fold to 4.5 billion US dollars over the past decade, he said.
Hungary’s crisis management model focuses on boosting support for investments “whenever world economy is ailing or heading in the wrong direction”, Szijjártó said. “Investments in such situations are not only key to overcoming difficulties but also a strength when it comes to intensifying competition as the economy re-ignites,” he said. In 2022, the “black year of the world economy”, Hungary broke records in investment, exports and employment, he said.
Péter Szijjártó and Alibek Kuantyrov, the economy minister of Kazakhstan:
Szijjártó noted that Hungary has opened embassies in all Turkic states, and Uzbekistan has announced it will do the same in Budapest. Budapest is also host to the OTS European representation and its institute for drought prevention, with opportunities arising for the export of Hungarian technologies. Szijjártó also decorated Amreyev with the Hungarian Order of Merit, Middle Cross, for his work as the Secretary-General of the OTS.
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Finance Minister: Kazakhstan Hungary’s reliable partner in energy supplies
Kazakhstan is one of the most reliable partners of Hungary in supplying energy, and Hungary is ready to strengthen those ties further to increase energy security, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said on Friday. Speaking at a signing ceremony after a meeting of the Hungarian-Kazakh intergovernmental economic committee, Varga said annual trade between the two countries has reached 420 million US dollars. Hungary mainly exports pharmaceutical products worth 94 million dollars. Around 90 percent of imports consist of crude and oil products, he said.
Source: MTI