“Agricultural relations between Hungary and the Philippines have entered a new phase”, Minister of State for Agricultural Economy György Czerván declared following talks with Minster of Agriculture of the Philippines Emmanuel F. Piñol on the sidelines of the 78th National Agriculture and Food Industry Exhibition and Fair (OMÉK) in Budapest.
Relations between the two countries have been developing for some time, and this spring Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó concluded an agreement on the setting up of a Joint Economic Committee during his official visit to the Philippines, in addition to which Mr. Piñol already visited Hungary a few weeks ago. Since the visit, agricultural relations have indeed picked up, and Hungary’s most significant exports to the island nation in the first half of 2017 came from the food and live animals export groups. In addition, Nine Hungarian enterprises have applied for the individual accreditation necessary to be granted import licences to the Philippines.
Following the meeting, Mr. Czerván told reporters: The Philippines has a population of around one hundred million, and the vast majority of people are Catholic, meaning there are no restrictions on the consumption of pork or wine. The county has a declared need for imports of pork, poultry meat and breeding stock, and Hungary has major export potential in these fields. There are also significant opportunities in research & development cooperation, primarily with regard to irrigation crop production and breeding new strains of rice.
The Philippines has its own stand at the OMÁK expo, offering visitors rice-based foods, tropical fruit juices, fish and dried fruits.