Zhanibek Abdrashov, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Hungary met with Mihály Varga, Minister of Finance of Hungary, El.kz cites MFA.
Mihály Varga is the head of the Kazakh-Hungarian interparliamentary friendship group in the State Assembly (Parliament), co-chairman of the intergovernmental council on trade and economic cooperation, as well as the Hungarian-Kazakhstan strategic council.
Mihály Varga noted that in recent years, Hungarian-Kazakh relations have reached a qualitatively high level, working groups on nuclear energy and scientific diplomacy have been established, the Hungarian oil and gas company “MOL” has launched a gas field “Rozhkovskoye” in Kazakhstan, as well as the efforts should be made to increase the volume of mutual trade to 1 billion US dollars, according to the instructions of the two leaders. The Minister stated that he intends to use his government position to this end.
The Minister of Finance also stated that Hungary will take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, and that Budapest will work in the EU-Central Asia direction to increase EU economic competition in energy security, “connectivity”, “Global Gateway”, and trade routes.
The Ambassador noted that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Kazakh-Hungarian strategic partnership, during which time ties between the two countries have grown significantly. One example is Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s official visit to Astana in November 2023.
The sides confirmed Kazakhstan and Hungary’s strong strategic partnership, expressed positive interactions in bilateral and multilateral formats, and expressed mutual interest in further strengthening and developing Kazakh-Hungarian cooperation.