Szijjártó told MTI after meeting with the prime minister and other high-level officials that he made the visit in preparation for Hungary to take over the presidency of the Visegrád Group from July 1. Stepping up cooperation between Central Europe and Central Asia will be the most important task for Hungary as it takes over the office, he added.
The V4 presidency rotates between the groupʼs four members, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.
Szijjártó said that Hungarian oil and gas company MOL could start production in a field in Kazakhstan this year with Kazakh and Chinese partners. Daily output of the field could reach 45,000 barrels of oil per day in a short while, he added.
The minister also noted the recent establishment of a EUR 40 million Hungarian-Kazakh farm investment fund, as well as talks on the participation of Budapestʼs waterworks in infrastructure upgrades in several big Kazakh cities.
Hungary and Kazakhstan would like to play the role of a bridge between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union (Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia), because “Europe will only be able to regain its competitiveness and can keep up with the world’s dynamically developing regions if the eastern and western parts of Eurasia can finally begin cooperating in a civilized and effective manner,” Szijjártó was quoted as saying by official government website kormany.hu.
“As two strategic partners, Hungary and Kazakhstan could play an extremely important role in this cooperation in future,” he added.
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