A wide range of issues of cooperation in various sectors of the economy were discussed by Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Alikhan Smailov and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban.

The parties considered topical areas of cooperation in the energy sector, in particular, the development of renewable sources, prospects for the implementation of new investment projects and the restoration of direct air service between the countries.

They also touched upon the steps in the transit and transportation sphere, including the interface of the Trans-Caspian international transport route with the Trans-European transport network.

Alikhan Smailov emphasized that Hungary is an important trade and economic partner of Kazakhstan in the European Union. The trade turnover between the countries last year increased by 24% to $172 million. The positive dynamics continues this year.

"We see a significant potential for increasing trade and are ready to increase exports of Kazakhstani products to Hungary on 95 items worth about $700 million. I propose to make joint efforts to expand the range of goods supplied," Prime Minister said.

According to him, great prospects are also available in investment cooperation. In general, about $330 million of direct Hungarian investments have been invested in Kazakhstan since 2005. In 2021-2022 alone, about $75 million has been invested, which is almost a quarter of the total.

"Today our interaction is reinforced by new projects. A striking example is the planned launch of one of the largest gas condensate fields "Rozhkovskoye" together with the Hungarian company MOL. We encourage Hungarian business to further expand its participation in joint investment projects," Alikhan Smailov said.

At the same time, the head of the Government emphasized the high level of bilateral cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere. Thus, within the framework of celebrating the 200th anniversary of the national poet of Hungary Shandor Petőfi it was decided to name a street in Astana in his honor.

He also added that an example of exemplary cooperation in the field of education is the 10-year mutual exchange of students. Currently, more than 1,000 Kazakh students are studying in Hungary, which shows the demand for this program.

"Our partnership on mutual grant-making will continue under the Memorandum of Understanding signed today. This emphasizes our mutual desire to continue our successful cooperation in this area. In general, we are ready to further create favorable conditions for the development of both trade-economic and humanitarian partnership," Alikhan Smailov said.

For his part, Viktor Orban noted that Kazakhstan and Hungary have well-developed political contacts, so now it is necessary to pay more attention to deepening and expanding economic ties.

"The President of your country made a proposal that we put forward as many projects as possible that we can realize together. Experience shows that states that are far apart can realize a breakthrough in the economy through some flagship project. It helps to involve other smaller enterprises in cooperation. Our task now is to find out which flagship projects we can realize. We hope that we can work intensively on this," the Hungarian Prime Minister said.

#Alikhan Smailov #The Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan #International Cooperation #Investments #Logistics