Pakistan, Hungary launch ‘Trade & Economic Window’ to boost cooperation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Hungary on Thursday launched the ‘Trade & Economic Window’ for collaboration in diverse fields and explore joint ventures in energy, information technology and tourism.

As an important step of Ministry of Foreign Affairs towards economic diplomacy, Foreign Minister Qureshi and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto through video-link launched the Hungary-Pakistan Trade & Economic Window and also the first bilateral Business Forum.

Speaking at the occasion, Foreign Minister Qureshi said the opening of Trade & Economic Window would strengthen cooperation between Pakistan and Hungary in a number of areas including energy, alternative energy, information technology, food and tourism.

Qureshi announced that Pakistan was ready to host the second meeting of the Pakistan-Hungary Joint Economic Commission in near future.

He mentioned that promotion of high-level ties between the two countries could increase the volume of bilateral trade.

He said according to the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government was shifting focus from geopolitics to geo-economics.

Qureshi said as per global business rankings, Pakistan's position was improved by 28 points due to the government’s economic policies.

He said Pakistan attached special importance to its bilateral relations with Hungary and thanked the government of Hungary for providing scholarships to the Pakistani students.

Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Hungary’s big companies relating to food, technology, medical and IT were planning to invest in Pakistan.

To promote bilateral cooperation in food security, he said, Hungary’s Agricultural University was in touch with Pakistan’s Agriculture Council.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister thanked Foreign Minister Qureshi for his efforts in promoting bilateral cooperation in various fields.

Foreign Minister Qureshi invited his Hungarian counterpart to visit Pakistan, which he accepted and said that he would soon be visiting the country along with a business delegation.