On February 3 Péter Szijjártó stated in Baku that there is a stable basis for further developing the economic cooperation between Hungary and Azerbaijan. As part of this, the goal of the Hungarian Government is that natural gas from Azerbaijan should be available on the Hungarian market.
The press release of the Ministry said that during the press conference after the 8th session of the Hungarian–Azerbaijani Joint Economic Committee the visit of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary to Baku served three objectives. The first of these was the further development of the bilateral economic cooperation. The foundations of this are provided by the fact that even in the difficult year of 2021 the volume of trade between Hungary and Azerbaijan increased by 28 per cent, and both MOL and Richter have significant investments in the South Caucasian country. Besides this, the Government would like to promote as many Hungarian companies as possible to be able to participate in the work of rebuilding in Nagorno-Karabakh. For instance, in renewing urban infrastructure, in building energy supplies and launching agricultural activity. In order to achieve this, the Hungarian Eximbank has opened a credit line of USD120 million. Finally, with the goal of strengthening energy supplies, the Government of Hungary believes that it is important that from the end of the next year natural gas from Azerbaijan should also appear on the Hungarian market. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade added that talks among the relevant companies have already started.
Besides signing the protocol of the morning session, the Co-chairs of the Joint Economic Committee have also signed a letter of intent on cooperation in the field of water management and food safety. They have also reached an agreement on the teaching of the Hungarian language and culture in Azerbaijan. After this, the Minister for Labor and Social Protection of Azerbaijan, Sahil Babayev, the Co-chair of the Joint Economic Committee, received the Middle Cross of the Order of Hungary as a sign of recognizing his work for the fruitful cooperation of the two countries.
In his speech, Péter Szijjártó pointed out that “recently we have, unfortunately, seen that some people are interested in ever sharpening conflicts between the East and the West.” Hungary, for her part, has learned the lesson of history, which says that calm, balanced and civilized East–West cooperation is better, so the Government of Hungary is interested in that. “We must build bridges between the East and the West and among our countries. We have to put an end to the times of division and finally begin the era of cooperation,” he said.
The Minister added that Hungary and Azerbaijan have done a great deal in order to promote East–West cooperation. The good bilateral relations have produced and are producing genuine advantages. During the day a Hungarian–Azerbaijani Business Forum was also held with the participation of 24 Hungarian firms.
