“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Prime Minister Viktor Orban on his first ever visit to India. I appreciate his strong personal commitment to deepening the relations between our two countries, which have traditionally been very close and friendly due to the remarkable history of cultural and people-to-people ties.
Today, there is much that brings our countries together. Like India, Hungary is a thriving democracy. It is a dynamic economy at the heart of a transforming Central Europe and a member of the European Union. Indian investors are increasingly finding a home in Hungary. In our own ways, both our countries are making important contributions to security and development in Afghanistan. Hungary has also been supportive of concerted global action for combating terrorism. All this gives us reason to work closely together for strengthening our relations.
Prime Minister Orban and I had very productive discussions today in which we reviewed the entire spectrum of our relations. We agreed that we can substantially expand our economic relations by leveraging our complementary strengths, India’s large and growing market and Hungary’s membership of the European Union.
We welcomed the work done by the Joint Economic Committee, which met earlier this week and identified priority areas for cooperation, including information technology, pharmaceuticals, auto components, healthcare, tourism, energy, engineering goods and food processing, among others. I also sought Prime Minister Orban’s support for an early conclusion of the India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement, which would enhance trade and investment flows between India and Hungary.
We have a very productive collaboration in the field of Science & Technology, which has been benefited from the annual contribution of one million Euros each to a Joint Strategic Research Fund. Today, we have agreed to enhance our annual contribution to the Fund to 2 million Euros each. This would enable us to undertake new projects involving high-end technologies.
We have also agreed to strengthen our cooperation in the area of defence technology. Hungary possesses advanced technology in niche areas of defence industry and can become a reliable partner in our efforts for modernization of our defence.
India appreciates Hungary’s support on international issues, including our candidature for a permanent membership of the reformed UN Security Council and the 2008 decision of the Nuclear Suppliers Group on civil nuclear cooperation with India. I have sought Prime Minister Orban’s support for India's full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other multilateral export control regimes.
As I mentioned in the beginning, India and Hungary share strong cultural bonds. Hungary has an admirable tradition of scholarship in the field of Indology. We will continue to nurture this important strand of our relationship through continued support to Indian studies through fellowships and exchanges. I am confident that the activities planned under the Cultural Exchange Programme 2013-15 would contribute to strengthening our cultural relations.
Prime Minister Orban and I also exchanged views on a wide range of regional and international issues. We both recognized that terrorism and extremism pose a common threat to modern democratic societies like India and Hungary. We noted the need to create a global normative framework against terrorism and agreed to deepen our cooperation in this regard.
I look forward to working closely with Prime Minister Orban for expanding and deepening our bilateral relations.”
