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At a press conference, Mr Orbán expressed his gratitude for the decoration he had been awarded in the spirit of Kazakh-Hungarian friendship, observing that he regarded it as a great honour, and “we will continue to work together to promote stable cooperation between the two countries in that spirit also in the future.” Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, conferred upon Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the Kazakh State Friendship Order of Merit, first class.
Mr Orbán offered his condolences due to the disaster that recently occurred in a mine in Karaganda. “Our thoughts and prayers were and remain with you,” the Prime Minister said.
He said nine years ago they had decided to raise Hungarian-Kazakh relations to a high, strategic level, and in this both parties have invested much work. Results have been forthcoming already this year, and in the future economic cooperation could expand further, he pointed out.
In his speech, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to head of state Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the fact that at their meeting they had spoken not only about economic issues, but equally about global security issues. He observed that this topic would also emerge on Friday, at the tenth summit of the Organization of Turkic States.
The Prime Minister reminded the Kazakh President that the Hungarians had arrived in Europe setting out from the East, and the Hungarian people believed that life was nothing other than an alliance between one’s ancestors, those living in the present and one’s successors.
In continuation, he said in this regard the Kazakhs are present in our lives as they are part of our common past, and so this is how we always look upon Kazakhstan and are happy that beyond friendship we now also have economic relations.
Mr Orbán described Hungary’s energy supply as a key issue, observing that it is important for us that we are now able to obtain crude oil also from Kazakhstan, not only from Russia. The volume of these supplies is not very significant for the time being; however, the channels have been opened, and from the viewpoint of the country’s security, this is a major step forward, he added.
The Prime Minister also thanked his host for the fact that Mol has been allowed to take part in the exploitation of gas in Kazakhstan, that Hungary has been involved in the generation of green energy locally and that there is also scope for cooperation in the nuclear industry.
He added: he is proud that every year 250 Kazakh university students come to Hungary which means that at present around 1,000 Kazakh students are studying in Hungary with Hungarian state scholarships.
