Business news

MINSK, 22 June (BelTA) – Belarus is open to cooperation with Hungary across the board and is ready to support mutually beneficial projects. Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobyakov made the statement as he met with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto on 22 June, BelTA has learned.

The Belarus government attaches importance to the advancement of friendly relations with Hungary in every sphere, stressed Andrei Kobyakov. Economic partnership represents the foundation of bilateral cooperation. Andrei Kobyakov said: “It is not your first visit to Belarus. We see it as a testimony of Hungary’s readiness for further invigoration and advancement of our bilateral relations.”

According to the Belarusian head of government, Belarus and Hungary have a great potential for advancing trade, economic, and investment cooperation. “There are a number of promising avenues such as banking, agriculture, nuclear energy, agricultural machinery engineering where we should discuss opportunities for promising bilateral projects,” said Andrei Kobyakov. He went on saying that open, trustful, and constructive interaction between Hungary and Belarus assumes that no topics are closed for discussion, that the sides are ready to work together to find acceptable solutions to any problems.

The prime minister also reminded about advantages of cooperation with Belarus. Their number includes the country’s advantageous geographical position, highly qualified personnel, up-to-date technologies at Belarusian companies, and the country’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union. “Foreign companies can reduce their investment costs, tax burden by placing their business in free economic zones, the China-Belarus industrial park Great Stone, in small and medium towns of Belarus,” said Andrei Kobyakov.

In turn, Peter Szijjarto noted that the Hungarian side is ready to consider Belarus’ proposals on advancing cooperation in various spheres. He also expressed confidence in future successful advancement of Belarus-Hungary partnership.

In January-April 2017 Belarus-Hungary trade totaled $57.3 million, 9.2% up from the same period of last year. Belarus’ export rose by 14.6% to $21.2 million while import from Hungary rose by 6.3% to $36 million.