Chairman of Council of Ministers of BIH Vjekoslav Bevanda in Official Visit to Hungary

Upon an invitation of Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BIH Vjekoslav Bevanda paid an official call to Hungary today. 

Upon his arrival to Budapest, Chairman Bevanda laid a wreath to the Heroes Square Memorial Monument, after which an official welcoming ceremony took place in front of the Hungarian Parliament. Later on, Chairman Bevanda and Prime Minister Orbán held a meeting, followed by a joint meeting of BIH and Hungarian delegations, where they discussed   the overall bilateral relations of the two countries and improvement of the current economic and business cooperation.

Chairman Bevanda assessed positively good relations between BIH and Hungary thus far, and stressed that there is a room for their additional improvement along with need for a more intensive economic cooperation. He welcomed the signing of an Agreement on Cooperation of Foreign Trade Chambers and setting-up a Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation.

Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán stressed his readiness for cooperation, based  on initiatives of mutual interest, and said Hungarian investors are interested in making investments to the metal, automobile, food processing and textile industries, as well as in agriculture, energy, tourism and infrastructure and civil construction. He proposed the establishment of BIH-Hungarian SMEs, which would be able to access funds on conditional terms.

Chairman Bevanda and Prime Minister Orbán concluded that there is a joint interest for cooperation in the implementation of the Corridor V c Project and for Railway Modernisation Project, as well.

Prime Minister Orbán expressed his hope that in the coming period, a direct airline route would be opened between BIH and Hungry. He also informed Chairman Bevanda that 50 BIH students will get a chance to receive fellowship from the Hungarian Government and study at Hungarian universities.

Chairman Bevnada informed the Hungarian Prime Minister of prospects for cooperation in the area of internal waterway transport, and pointed at a Brčko Port Revitalisation Plan. He invited Hungarian investors to take part in construction of the Port terminal. He emphasised the interest for cooperation in the areas of information and communication technologies, especially in the education aspect of it in the process of shifting from analogue to digital TV broadcast.

They discussed cooperation possibilities provided within the Višegrad Group - comprised of Slovakia, Czech, Poland and Hungary - so Chairman Bevnada expressed the interest of BIH in a Fund, supporting small-scope projects worth up to EUR 5 million.

Prime Minister Orbán pledged his full support to BIH on its way towards the European Union, offering an assistance in the realisation of related requirements.

At the end of the meeting, Chairman Bevanda and Prime Minister Orbán expressed their hope for the continuation of good and friendly relations between the two states, along with hope that the cooperation in all segments would be lifted to a higher level in the future period.

Following his meeting with Prime Minister Orbán, Chairman Bevanda met with a delegation of the Hungarian Parliament, led by Parliament Speaker Laszlo Kover.

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