‘Jordan, Hungary have much in common, should cooperate more’

AMMAN — The similarities between Jordan and Hungary should catalyse further cooperation, especially in starting new mutual investments, said Hungarian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade László Szabó.

In an exclusive interview with The Jordan Times on Wednesday, the official highlighted the need for implementing business ideas for prospective projects discussed Tuesday evening at a joint business forum, describing the meeting as "very successful".

Szabó is chairing a delegation of officials and private sector representatives visiting the Kingdom to take part in the second meeting of the Hungarian-Jordanian Joint Economic Commission. 

The meeting, attended by a group of Jordanian officials and co-chaired by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation's secretary general, Saleh Kharabsheh, seeks to evaluate joint work in all fields of bilateral cooperation over the past year-and-a-half since the creation of the commission. 

"We have identified a few areas for cooperation… such as education, water management and energy," Szabó said, suggesting nuclear physics and nuclear technology as majors that Jordanian students can study in English at Hungarian universities through 400 fully-covered scholarships annually.

The Hungarian delegation includes representatives of Budapest Waterworks, one of the largest water companies in Eastern Europe, to look for opportunities to collaborate with Jordanian partners regarding drinking water supply, wastewater management and smart water management techniques, the official noted. 

"We know how dear of a treasure water is for Jordan, so we would like to be able to offer our help in this highly technical field," he said on the sidelines of the joint commission's meeting. 

The meeting on Wednesday witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission and the Hungarian National Development Agency on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

The MoU includes cooperation in building, running and maintaining nuclear research reactors, developing nuclear infrastructure, nuclear waste management and applications of research reactors. 

Another memo was signed for carrying out water management projects, according to the Hungarian official, who expressed his country's readiness to share its experiences in the field with Jordan.

The business forum introduced to Jordanian businesspeople the Hungarian Trade House, where some 4,000 Hungarian companies are offering to partner with Jordanian ones, supported by Hungarian investment promotion agencies.

The business forum, attended by over 120 Jordanian business owners, looked into possibilities for increasing Jordan's exports to Europe by facilitating rules of origin, according to Jamal Fariz, president of the Jordan Europe Business Association.

Commenting in a phone interview with The Jordan Times on the outcomes of the meeting, Fariz expected new partnerships between businesses from the two countries, citing a public and private interest from the Hungarian side. 

Refugee crisis

As a country that has received tens of thousands of war refugees, Hungary sympathises with Jordan's burden of hosting Syrian refugees and translates its support through aid-providing organisations, Szabó noted.

"The Hungarian government is contributing to the cause [in Syria] and we announced in the London donor conference that we will build and maintain a hospital in Syria worth 5 million euros," he said.

He commended the role Jordan played in the donor conference, urging the EU to work towards an on-the-ground solution to the crisis.

The Jordanian-Hungarian joint commission held its inaugural meeting in May 2014 in Budapest, where the two sides agreed to cooperate in business, trade, energy, agriculture, higher education and tourism.

During the meetings in Amman, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury briefed the Hungarian delegation on Jordan's legislative reforms that aim to encourage investments and boost transparency and anti-graft efforts, according to a ministry statement.

He also reviewed the Jordan 2025 vision and the executive development programme for the years 2016-2018 and the government development programme, which aim to enhance growth rates and establish job-generating projects across the country.

For her part, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply Maha Ali highlighted Jordan's keenness on increasing the bilateral trade volume and encouraging investment projects in both countries in light of economic reforms and free trade agreements.

A Trade Ministry statement quoted Ali as saying that Jordan's exports to Hungary reached $3.3 million last year, while imports were around $34.4 million, describing the export volume as "below ambitions".

Agriculture Minister Akef Zu'bi also met with Szabó and discussed cooperation in the field of scientific research on producing vegetables, corn and corn oil, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.