In addition to the Co-chairmen - Russian Federation Minister of Agriculture Nikolai Fyodorov and Hungary’s Minister of National Economy Gyorgy Matolcsy – meeting participants included the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Hungary to the Russian Federation, Istvan Ijgyarto, and representatives from the concerned ministries and departments of both countries.
Opening the meeting, Nikolai Fyodorov said Hungary is a promising partner from the standpoint of attracting advanced technology and investment and for implementing priority Russian innovation projects.
Both parties said that last year the bilateral trade decreased by 12.4% to $9.7 billion. Russian exports ($6.6 billion) are still largely made up of mineral and chemical products and metals. Hungarian imports ($3.1 billion) mostly include technical equipment, chemical products, farm production and food products.
The ministers agreed that Russia and Hungary have every opportunity to make bilateral economic relations more balanced and less sensitive to the global crisis. In terms of technical cooperation, the two countries can strengthen interaction in innovation, research, scientific and technical development which will result in economic growth.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the current issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation in nuclear energy, transport, machine building, the financial sector and in promoting Hungarian production in the Russian market. In addition, the sides discussed organisational issues related to the seventh meeting of the Russia-Hungary Intergovernmental Commission in Budapest.