This year it is Budapest that hosts the 19th outdoor Athletic World Championship. Several Presidents from the member countries of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) paid a visit to the above event. It was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of Türkiye, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the President of Uzbekistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the President of Turkmenistan, Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan and Sadyr Japarov, the President of Kyrgyzstan who visited Hungary on the occasion of the Athletic World Championship and the anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian state. Besides having talks, they participated in the celebrations of our National Day, and also paid a visit to the Athletic Stadium.
On the National Day of Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán conducted talks with the leaders of the Turkic states in the Carmelite Monastery in the Castle of Buda. His exchanges with Serdar Berdimuhamedov covered the issues of energy, as well as the still untapped opportunities in our bilateral relations – the cooperation in the fields of health, the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, food industry, water management, education and culture. The President of Turkmenistan congratulated Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the National Day of Hungary, and wished a lot of happiness to the Hungarian people.
During the talks with Sadyr Japarov, the President of Kyrgyzstan, the Sides noted with satisfaction that the dynamic political dialogue between our two countries has laid the foundations and promotes the further strengthening of our cooperation. The Sides also stated that the hopes for the opening of the Embassy of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in Budapest, as well as the starting of issuing visas by the Embassy of Hungary in Bishkek have recently been justified. These steps have greatly contributed to the development of the relations between our two peoples.
Viktor Orbán received the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev for a working visit, whom he congratulated on his victory in the elections in July. The Prime Minister of Hungary was pleased that the strategic partnership between Hungary and Uzbekistan is being extended to more and more fields. The bilateral relations are gradually expanding, for example, by the entry of the National Savings Bank (OTP) into the financial market of Uzbekistan, as well as the launching of the direct flights connecting the two capitals.
The talks between Orbán Viktor and Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan, focused on three issues that are all connected with the security of Hungary and Europe. The Sides exchanged their views on energy supply, physical security, and in connection with the war in Ukraine, especially on issues related to overcoming economic difficulties. This year 100 million cubic meters of natural gas will be coming from Azerbaijan, and an agreement has been reached on storing – as a rented capacity – 50 million cubic meters in Hungary. It was underlined by the Sides that in such a way, a real physical link of transporting gas has been established between the two countries. It was also emphasized that each year Hungary offers 200 scholarships to students from Azerbaijan to study in our country.
Cooperation in the field of energy was also on the agenda of the talks between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Hungary and Türkiye are already enjoying a strategic partnership, and the Sides had already agreed that the cooperation would be elevated to a level of enhanced partnership. In harmony with this, the President of Türkiye will pay another visit to Hungary on December 18, 2023. The session of the Council on Strategy will be held at the highest level at this time. The agreement on establishing the enhanced strategic partnership, as well as mutual assistance in cases of emergency will be signed at this time. When the agreement between Hungary and Azerbaijan on transporting natural gas enters into force, also when the export from Turkmenistan is launched to Europe, the role that Türkiye plays in transit will increase. It is a major step forward that the supply of natural gas can be started from Turkiye too since we managed to finalize the agreement between MVM and BOTAŞ on purchasing 275 million cubic meters of natural gas next year. Viktor Orbán and President Recep Erdoğan also covered the issue of the ratification of the NATO membership of Sweden. Since at the moment the Hungarian and Turkish Parliaments are having a summer break, the putting of this issue on the agenda may become timely again in the fall. There will be continuous coordination between the two Governments; they will be informing each other on the given state of the procedures, as well as the processes in their national Parliaments.
