Minister of State István Íjgyártó took part in an Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) event held at the Indian Embassy’s Cultural Centre in Budapest on 27 October 2015, at the invitation of Indian Ambassador Rahul Chhabra.
In his opening speech, the Minister of State for Cultural and Science Diplomacy stressed the importance of current and future cooperation with India, an excellent example of which is the Indian Government’s ITEC Programme, which is built on mutual interests and economic relations.
Hungary is an active participant in the Programme and some 50 Hungarian students have already had the opportunity to take part in the courses offered. Mr. Íjgyártó emphasised the increasing weight of Indian investments within the Hungarian economy, which include the pharmaceutical industry and the vehicle parts manufacturing, IKT and food processing sectors and mean the presence of companies such as Tata Consulting Services, Satyam Computer Services, Sun Pharma and Apollo Tyres.
Hungary offers 200 scholarships-a-year to Indian students who wish to continue their studies in Budapest within the framework of education cooperation. The ratio of Indian students within the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship programme is extremely high in the 2015/16 academic year, including high mobility with reference to PhD courses. These figures mirror the knowledge-intensive character of relations and provide a strong basis for the further development and expansion of technical and economic cooperation between the two countries.
Minister of State Íjgyártó also spoke about the significance of the bilateral science and technology agreement concluded between Hungary and India, which supports areas of research that are important to both parties.