Hungary signs agreement with Turkic states about establishing a Drought Prevention Institute in Budapest

Hungary has reached an agreement with the Organization of Turkic States that they will establish a Drought Prevention Institute in Budapest, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on his Facebook page. He added that water-related challenges, including drought, are a serious problem in many parts of the world, but Hungarian water technologies can provide solutions in many regions.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán travelled to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to attend the summit of the Organization of Turkic States. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Economic Development Márton Nagy, the PM’s Political Director Balázs Orbán and nearly 60 Hungarian businessmen accompanied the prime minister on his trip.

Orbán said on Thursday that the Hungarian OTP bank may soon announce the acquisition of a major Uzbek bank. He added that agreements on water management, food industry and nuclear energy were also expected.

By nuclear energy issues, he was probably referring to the fact that in Samarkand, Mr Szijjártó held talks with Alexei Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom, on the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant. "We reviewed the status of the investment and agreed on the steps to be taken in the coming weeks to ensure that we can count on two new Paks units by the end of this decade," the foreign minister wrote.