Hungary and Uzbekistan are to be connected by a direct flight from Sunday; there will be two weekly flights between Budapest and Tashkent from September, three from January and four from 2025, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Saturday. Speaking at a joint press conference with Uzbek Minister of Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov in Budapest, Szijjártó said the first flight of Qanot Sharq Airlines will arrive to Budapest on Sunday.
Guest workers will come to Hungary from Uzbekistan with the new flight?
In view of the new flights, the number of consuls has been increased at the Hungarian embassy in Tashkent and the issuance of visas has been accelerated so it is now easier for Uzbeks to travel to Hungary, and the same is true the other way round, Szijjártó said, according to a foreign ministry statement. He noted that, like Hungary, Uzbekistan has plans to build a new nuclear power plant.
Some comment writers said the new flights serve only the purpose of carrying guest workers to Hungary. We wrote that the Hungarian government expects hundreds of thousands of guest workers from Asia to boost the economy HERE.
“An agreement has been reached that if progress is made in the nuclear project in Uzbekistan, then Hungarian dry-cooling technology will be used, which will mean a Russian-Uzbek-Hungarian cooperation worth several hundred million euros,” he said. Szijjártó expressed his hope that the new flight will give impetus to bilateral economic relations, and welcomed the fact that Hungarian pharmaceutical companies had already established a foothold in Uzbekistan. Richter is in talks on the local production of two of its products, while Meditop has opened its office and is preparing investments in the country, he said.
Read also:
- Uzbekistan and Hungary have established a strong and reliable partnership
- Wizz Air to connect Hungary with another Asian metropolis – Read more HERE
Hungary-Uzbekistan summit:
OTP, investors go to Tashkent
He added that OTP Bank agreed with the Uzbek state investment fund on setting up a joint investment funds worth 100 million US dollars. Szijjártó said preparations are under way for a special industrial zone near Tashkent, scheduled to be ready by the end of this year, where Hungarian investors will be able to operate under preferential rules. Around a dozen companies have already expressed interest in the opportunities, he added. He also noted that 170 Uzbek students a year study with scholarships at Hungarian universities, and almost 800 applications have been received this year.
The signing of the travel agreement between the two countries:
Orbán holds talks with Uzbekistan’s president
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hosted Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for a work visit in his office in Budapest on Saturday, the prime minister’s press chief said. Orbán congratulated Mirziyoyev on his victory in last month’s presidential election, Bertalan Havasi told MTI.
The prime minister welcomed that the strategic partnership between Hungary and Uzbekistan was being expanded to more and more areas, and that bilateral ties were also expanding, most recently with the establishment of a direct air link between the two countries’ capitals and with OTP Bank’s entry onto the Uzbek financial market. Mirziyoyev is scheduled to attend the August 20 celebrations and events at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.