Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan has paid a three-day official visit to Hungary where he was received by President Tamás Sulyok, the Speaker of the National Assembly, László Kövér and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the establishing of the strategic partnership between the two states, Viktor Orbán and Kassym-Jomart Tokayev adopted a Joint Declaration.
After his talks with President Tokayev, Prime Minister Orbán pointed out that „Central Asia is one of the fastest developing and most competitive regions in the world, and Kazakhstan is the strongest country in this region.” During the press conference after their talks the Head of the Government of Hungary recalled that it was 17 years ago that a President of Kazakhstan last visited Hungary. Prime Minister Orbán stressed that in the upcoming ten to fifteen years the Central Asian region will be one of the key regions and within it Kazakhstan the key country for the development of the economic development in the world. He recalled that the ancestors of the Hungarians had left for their journey to the West from the neighborhood of today’s Kazakhstan. For this reason, this visit is not only about business, the future and development but about friendship and brotherhood, the shared past which are going to have great significance in the next decades. The Prime Minister added that the next two, three decades will be dominated by the development of trade, by the new sources of energy and the building of the international routes of transport, and within these trends the Hungarians and the Kazakhs do have common interests. Although in the course of the past ten years the volume of Hungarian and Kazakh bilateral trade has doubled, the Prime Minister and his Kazakh partner believed that „in their relations the perspective, the potential is much greater.” Consequently, they reached an agreement that they will implement a breakthrough, a sizeable leap in the Hungarian-Kazakh relations. The Sides reached an agreement on the deepening of the cooperation between the Hungarian and Kazakh companies in the field of pharmaceuticals, the food industry, agriculture and water management. The two leaders set the goal of establishing a direct air link between the two capitals. They also agreed to set up a Hungarian-Kazakh Investment Fund. Prime Minister Orbán underlined that Europe cannot exist without importing energy. Since the Central Asian region, and within it Kazakhstan, plays a key role in this, in the future Kazakhstan is a strategic partner in the energy security of Hungary and Europe. He added that since Kazakhstan will also launch its first nuclear program, Hungary has initiated a professional and business cooperation between the representatives of the nuclear industry.
Prime Minister Orbán also drew the attention to the fact that Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and in this capacity it did everything it could to accelerate the cooperation between the EU and Kazakhstan. Hungary held the session of the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council. A shared objective is to sign the agreement on visa liberalization between the EU and Kazakhstan. As the Prime Minister said, it would greatly facilitate the trips of Kazakh people to Europe, as well as the building of Hungarian-Kazakh economic and personal ties. After his talks with Prime Minister Orbán, President Tokayev also spoke about the need to strengthen the ties between Hungary and Kazakhstan. He underlined that the Republic of Kazakhstan is a reliable strategic partner of Hungary. The main objective of his visit is to lend a new impetus to the bilateral ties. He recalled that it was thirty years ago that Kazakhstan opened its Embassy in Hungary which was the first Kazakh Embassy in Central Europe. The volume of bilateral trade keeps increasing year after year – last year it was nine per cent higher than in 2022. As President Tokayev put it, the next milestone will be when the two countries reach USD1 billion in trade. He also mentioned that since 2005 Hungary has invested USD370 million in his country. During his visit President Tokayev met the representatives of MOL, OTP and Richter. They signed agreements on three sites in the value of USD62 million. In the President’s opinion, the bilateral ties should be invigorated, the cooperation must be enhanced in the fields of rare earth metals, water management and agriculture. The ties should also be strengthened in digitalization, energy, transportation and traffic. President Tokayev also highlighted the fact that an agreement has been reached on the Trans-Caspian transport corridor. This could offer tremendous economic opportunities since the document provides opportunities for development in infrastructure and logistics. In the future, 10 million tons of goods will be transported along this corridor – 85 per cent of the goods from Asia to Europe will arrive through this route. President Tokayev also touched on the fact that the ties between Hungarians and Kazakhs are deep-rooted – in the Middle Ages this region was the last sanctuary of the Kipchaks. We have common roots of our civilizations, our historical roots are also shared. A Hungarian team also participated in the Nomadic World Games in Astana, and several thousand young people from Kazakhstan study in Hungary with a scholarship. President Tokayev stressed that it was also important to strengthen the multilateral ties within the framework of the UN, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), as well as the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. He highlighted the fact that Prime Minister Orbán was taking an active part in the work of the OTS. Kazakhstan highly appreciates his efficient contribution to enhancing Turkic integration. President Tokayev indicated that he was looking forward to receiving Prime Minister Orbán for an official visit to Kazakhstan next year. Prof. István Vásáry, the Executive Head of the Representation Office of the OTS in Budapest also participated in the plenary sessions of the talks and the gala dinner held afterwards.
