“We must reinforce our cooperation with the countries of the Southward Opening and return to those countries that we have previously exited”, Minister of State for Economic Diplomacy Levente Magyar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone on Friday.
The Minster of State told the press he had visited Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in recent days in the interests of expanding economic and political cooperation with these countries within the framework of Hungary Southward Opening policy. “We must return to the countries that we exited for economic reasons in the 1990s and this is why we reopened the Hungarian Embassy in Chile two years ago and our embassy in Ecuador last year, and why we are reopening our embassies in Peru and Columbia next year”, he explained.
“One of the reason the Ministry is searching to expand relations with the region’s countries is that almost four fifths of Hungary’s exports go to the EU, and we would like to reduce this dependence by developing cooperation with parts of the world that were previously not ‘on our map’, or only to a lesser degree”, he said.
Mr. Magyar highlighted: A Hungarian Trading House representation will be opening in Argentina within a few weeks and this will affect all three countries he has just half talks with. “The forty million strong Argentina is a huge market, and last year’s presidential elections were won by a candidate who has “opened up” the country for investors and foreign markets”, he explained. “This also represents an opportunity for competitive Hungarian enterprises, and ‘if they succeed in taking a foothold in Argentina” and the country’s openness towards foreign economic relations is lasting, then we will be able to realise major projects”, he said, adding that “Water management represents the greatest opportunity”.
According to the Minister of State, this field of cooperation could also be important with regard to Uruguay, as could agriculture. Eighty percent of the country’s exports are generated by agriculture and Uruguay has a highly developed agrarian culture; “we can learn from Uruguay”. In Mr. Magyar’s opinion the export of Hungarian agricultural technologies and cooperation in research & development both hold promising opportunities.
On Paraguay, the Minister of State said it is a developing countries with huge empty spaces that are practically all suitable for agricultural cultivation, meaning there are many opportunities for the agricultural processing industry, for instance. “Participation in the country’s infrastructure developments could also be promising”, he pointed out, adding that Paraguay is currently going through tremendous development and is looking for opportunities for foreign cooperation, while others “are only just discovering this country”, he added.
Mr. Magyar also told the press that he had concluded an education agreement in Paraguay according to which, to begin with, five students will be offered scholarships to attend Hungarian universities, but this number may be increase if there is higher demand.