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The Hungarian Prime Minister recalled that a Kazakh president had last been to Hungary 17 years previously. This fact in itself underlines the importance of Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s visit as he represents an enormous country from one of the most promising regions, he laid down.
He stressed that this region with Kazakhstan in it would be one of the key regions and key countries in the development of the world economy in the next 15 to 20 years.
Mr Orbán also recalled that he had already met with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev several times previously. For instance, during his latest visit to Kazakhstan, the hosts named a street after the poet Sándor Petőfi which the Hungarian public received as a powerful amicable gesture.
He further highlighted that the ancestors of the Hungarians had set out on their trip to the West from around the region that was Kazakhstan today. This visit is therefore not only about business, the future and development, but also about friendship, brotherhood and a shared past which will be of great significance during the decades to come, he indicated.
Trade development, new energy sources and the construction of international transport routes: these are the overarching topics that will dominate the next two to three decades and in which Kazakhs and Hungarians have common interests, the Prime Minister pointed out.
“We are not unsatisfied with the past few years’ pace of growth,” Mr Orbán said, recalling that in ten years Hungarian-Kazakh trade has doubled in turnover.
He and his Kazakh partner were, however, of the opinion that “the potential in this relationship is much greater,” and they therefore agreed to achieve a breakthrough, an expansion on the scale of magnitudes in Kazakh-Hungarian relations, he stated.
Mr Orbán further said they agreed on the intensification of cooperation between Hungarian and Kazakh companies in the areas of the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, the food industry, agriculture and water management, they set the establishment of a direct air link between the two capitals as a goal, and they also agreed to establish a Kazakh-Hungarian investment fund.
In his words, Europe cannot survive without energy imports, and the Central Asian region with Kazakhstan in it plays a key role in this. Therefore, Kazakhstan is a strategic partner in the future of the energy security of Hungary and Europe.
He added that Mol had been present in Kazakhstan for almost two decades now, its operations there were successful, and as a result of Wednesday’s talks, an opportunity had been created for increasing its presence in the Central Asian country. Kazakhstan will soon start its first nuclear programme, and so Hungary has initiated professional and business cooperation with representatives of the nuclear industry as well, he observed.
He further mentioned that Hungary offered Kazakh students 250 state scholarship grants annually. In addition to gaining important knowledge, they also constitute a kind of “golden bridge” between the two countries with regard to the generation of the future, he pointed out.
Mr Orbán said at present Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and during this period, it has made every effort to accelerate cooperation between Kazakhstan and the European Union.
They held a meeting of the European Union-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council, and it is a common goal to reach a visa facilitation agreement between the European Union and Kazakhstan which would significantly facilitate the travel of Kazakhs to Europe and also the establishment of Kazakh-Hungarian business and personal relations, the Hungarian Prime Minister said.
On Wednesday, Mr Orbán and Mr Tokayev adopted a joint statement on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of strategic partnership between the two states, while before the press statement, representatives of the two countries exchanged the documents of the Kazakh-Hungarian agreements concluded on Wednesday.
