Kazakhstan Eyes Hungarian Nuclear Energy Technology

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan

All the conditions are in place for Hungarian-Kazakh economic cooperation to enter a new level, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Astana on Monday, after meeting his Kazakh counterpart, Murat Nurtleu.

First, he touched on Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s presence in Kazakhstan, recalling that it has carried out an 80 billion forint (199.2 million euros) investment program in the Central Asian country. “MOL has made the right decision and its efforts have been crowned with success, with 300 million cubic meters of natural gas now being extracted from the field where it already has five wells in operation,” he pointed out.

Today we agreed with the Minister of Energy that the government of Kazakhstan will support MOL’s participation in the extraction of additional oil and gas fields,”

he added.

The Foreign Minister underlined that the energy company’s advanced technological solutions provide opportunities to exploit the challenging fields here. “A Kazakh-Chinese-Hungarian strategic cooperation is being outlined, which will allow MOL to participate in the extraction of a large, technologically complex field here in the future,” he said.

Péter Szijjártó also pointed out that Hungarian companies are playing an important role in the modernization of agriculture in Kazakhstan, as laboratories, feed mills, and training centers will soon be established in the country as part of a 25 billion forint (62.2 million euros) investment. In the pharmaceutical sector, Richter has become the ninth largest player, with a turnover of more than 10 billion forints (24.8 million euros) last year, and domestic medical instruments have also entered the Kazakh market.

The minister welcomed the great potential for cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, as Kazakhstan has decided to build a nuclear power plant according to a referendum. He emphasized that

the dry cooling technology developed and owned by MVM (Hungarian power company) is being seriously considered in the Central Asian country as a technological solution for cooling future nuclear power plants.

Finally, he announced that

a direct air link between Kazakhstan and Hungary will be reintroduced in May, with Shymkent, the country’s third largest city, becoming accessible from Budapest.

“This direct air link will obviously help us to take our cooperation to a new dimension, and the need for it is underlined by the fact that 2,111 Kazakh students applied for the 250 scholarships provided by Hungary this year,” he concluded.

Besides meeting his Kazakh counterpart, Szijjártó also held talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The Hungarian Foreign Minister wrote on his Facebook page that they reviewed the new world political reality after the US presidential elections, which brings positive changes for both nations.

Via MTI, Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó