Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has arrived in Astana, Kazakhstan for bilateral talks and to attend the 10th summit of the Organization of Turkic States. PM Orbán is accompanied by Márton Nagy, the economic development minister, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, as well as Finance Minister Mihály Varga.
The Hungarian delegation is scheduled to have talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, PM Alikhan Smailov, and Parliamentary Speaker Yerlan Koshanov. During the talks, representatives of Hungary will sign an education cooperation accord for 2024-2026, while preparations for several Hungarian universities to start activities in Kazakhstan will be among the topics discussed, Havasi said. At the summit, representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Hungary, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will discuss “political and economic developments within and outside the [Turkic] region,” Havasi said. Minister Szijjártó said on Facebook that he will attend a meeting of the OTS Council of Foreign Ministers and hold bilateral talks with his Uzbek and Azeri counterparts. As regards Hungarian-Kazakh relations, Minister Szijjártó noted, according to a ministry statement, the progress made in energy cooperation this year, calling it the “best possible demonstration” of the two countries’ strategic partnership. He said a scheduled inauguration of a street in Astana named after 19th-century Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi on Thursday was a gesture that represented the importance Kazakhstan attached to its cooperation with Hungary.