State Visit to Kazakhstan to Continue “Success Stories” in Energy Sector

MTI-Hungary Today 2023.11.02.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (L) and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (R) at the Presidential Palace in Astana

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, where he will attend the 10th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States after his official bilateral meetings.

The Hungarian delegation also includes Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, and Finance Minister Mihály Varga. They will hold talks with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov, and Parliament Chairman Yerlan Koshanov.

In January 2023, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding on education in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, press secretary Bertalan Havasi noted in a statement, adding that

our cooperation in the energy sector is also outstanding at the corporate level, with a number of interested Hungarian companies present on the Kazakh market.

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, member of the Hungarian delegation, posted about their visit to Kazakhstan on his social media page.

As he wrote,

this year is the most successful year in the history of Hungarian-Kazakh cooperation.”

In this context, he highlighted five important success stories in the field of energy cooperation. Hungarian oil and gas company MOL will start producing natural gas from its field in Kazakhstan this year, and oil shipments are steadily arriving in Hungary, already reaching 630,000 tons this year, the minister wrote. He also highlighted that the Kazakh city of Taraz is switching to green energy with the help of a Hungarian company. In addition, Kazakh nuclear specialists will start arriving in Hungary for training this year, and an increasing number of Kazakh power plants are using MVM’s (Hungarian power company) unique cooling system, which is unique in the world.

Education is also a priority area of interstate relations, and during the Astana negotiations the Stipendium Hungaricum agreement for the period 2024-2026 was signed, and preparations are underway for the establishment of several Hungarian universities in Kazakhstan.

Péter Szijjártó announced that

the two sides have now agreed to let 250 students study at Hungarian universities in the next three years.

Fact

The Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship program was established by the Hungarian government in 2013, and is supervised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and managed by the Tempus Public Foundation. It offers a wide range of courses for international students with excellent academic results and outstanding performance. The aim of the scholarship is to support the internationalization and continuous development of Hungarian higher education, to strengthen the international relations of the academic and research community, and to promote the reputation and competitiveness of Hungarian higher education worldwide.

Friday’s Summit of the Organization of Turkic States, under the motto “Turk Time!”, will serve “as a crucial platform for high-level discussions on the extensive agenda of the Organization,”

the organization’s website reads.

Leaders will decide on key issues and finalize agreements in areas such as the economy, trade, transport, and customs. The leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan will also discuss political and economic developments both within and beyond the region.

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Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán