The policy of Look East has worked, and Hungary has greatly profited from the economic cooperation with the Turkic countries, was emphasized by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó during his joint press conference in Istanbul with Baghdad Amreyev, the Secretary General of the Turkic Council.
It was in 2010 that Hungary adopted the policy of Look East, and after eleven years we can say that the strategy has worked. This year has been the third during which the most of the investments coming to Hungary have arrived from the countries of the East, while we have significantly expanded our export markets as well, said the Hungarian Foreign Minister. He underlined that within the policy of Look East, the cooperation with the Turkic world enjoys special significance. He added that Hungary and the Turkic countries are bound together by a special emotional link, since several common elements can be found in our historical and cultural heritage. The comradely solidarity among the Sides was manifested during the most difficult bouts of the Coronavirus pandemic. Péter Szijjártó underlined that four out of the five member states of the Turkic Council gave assistance to Hungary in the first wave by providing health appliances necessary for our protection. During the second wave, after our own capacities had been established, Hungary was able to offer these countries assistance too.
The Foreign Minister pointed out that in the course of ten years the Hungarian exports to the member countries of the Turkic Council had increased by 77 per cent. Meanwhile the turnover in trade has doubled, and only in this year the exports of Hungary to these countries have grown by 43 per cent. The Minister remarked that the increase in the exports to the countries of the Turkic Council has been contributing to the required growth of the Hungarian economy to a significant extent.
Péter Szijjártó told the press conference that Hungary was going to join the Association of the of Turkic Chambers of Trade and Industry, the next business session of which would be held in September on Budapest. Besides this, our country will participate in establishing the Turkic Investment Fund and the Turkic Development Bank.
The export of Hungarian water management and agricultural technology will also gather momentum since the Institute of the Turkic Council for Preventing Droughts, in which Hungary will play an important role, will be established. The Minister added that the Hungarian higher education system is becoming more and more popular with the young people of the Turkic countries. This was manifested by the fact that about six times more young people have applied for the available 870 scholarships that had been offered by Hungary to the students of the five countries.
Answering a question, Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary had not joined the Turkic Council in order to enlarge the list of organizations in which we are observers, but because in our judgment this region would greatly contribute to the future growth of the world economy. The Minister drew the attention to the fact that the countries that had managed to set foot in this part of the world early enough were able to reap a lot of benefits. Hungary was the first country to join the Council as an observer, and today this move provides us with advantages that can be measured already in figures.
Answering another question, the Minister said that the Hungarian companies would take part in the reconstruction of the transport, health, social and water infrastructure of Karabakh. This cooperation will take place in the framework of the Hungarian–Azeri Economic Joint Commission, and Eximbank will offer a credit line of USD100 million to the Hungarian firms taking part in the reconstruction.
