Hungary and Uzbekistan are to be connected by a direct flight from Sunday; there will be two weekly flights between Budapest and Tashkent from September, three from January and four from 2025, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Uzbek Minister of Industry and Trade Laziz Kudratov in Budapest, Szijjártó said the first flight of Qanot Sharq Airlines will arrive to Budapest on Sunday.



In view of the new flights, the number of consuls has been increased at the Hungarian embassy in Tashkent and the issuance of visas has been accelerated so it is now easier for Uzbeks to travel to Hungary, and the same is true the other way round, Szijjártó said, according to a foreign ministry statement.



He noted that, like Hungary, Uzbekistan has plans to build a new nuclear power plant.



“An agreement has been reached that if progress is made in the nuclear project in Uzbekistan, then Hungarian dry-cooling technology will be used, which will mean a Russian-Uzbek-Hungarian cooperation worth several hundred million euros,” he said.



Szijjártó expressed his hope that the new flight will give impetus to bilateral economic relations, and welcomed the fact that Hungarian pharmaceutical companies had already established a foothold in Uzbekistan.



Richter is in talks on the local production of two of its products, while Meditop has opened its office and is preparing investments in the country, he said. He added that OTP Bank agreed with the Uzbek state investment fund on setting up a joint investment funds worth 100 million US dollars.



Szijjártó said preparations are under way for a special industrial zone near Tashkent, scheduled to be ready by the end of this year, where Hungarian investors will be able to operate under preferential rules.



Around a dozen companies have already expressed interest in the opportunities, he added. He also noted that 170 Uzbek students a year study with scholarships at Hungarian universities, and almost 800 applications have been received this year.