The Vice Chairman of Qatar Chamber, Mohammed bin Towar Al Kuwari, and Vice President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ferenc Miklossy, exchanging documents at the QC headquarters.
BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: Qatar Chamber (QC) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with its Hungarian counterpart to boost and strengthen bilateral relations with the EU member nation.
The agreement that aims to facilitate cooperation in the field of trade and investment between the two countries was signed by Mohammed bin Towar Al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman of QC and Ferenc Miklossy, Vice-President of Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) here at the QC headquarters.
“The volume of trade exchange between Qatar and Hungary is still modest, but requires closer economic cooperation to expand the scope of import and export to increase trade exchange between the two countries,” said Al Kuwari.
Reiterating on the need to intensifying exchange of visits and delegations and the signing of joint ventures, he said: “There are many possible areas of cooperation between Qatar and Hungary including energy, tourism, industry and banking services (both conventional and Islamic), ICT and other sectors.”
Asked about the latest developments with regard to energy cooperation between Qatar and Hungary, Miklossy said: “This is a very pertinent question. Our State Secretary from the Ministry of Development, who is responsible for energy policy, is here in Qatar and is holding talks with the concerned Qatari officials; and we are hopeful for successful outcomes.”
Hungary, being a landlocked country, has very limited scope to receive LNG vessels from Qatar, but being the immediate neighbour of Croatia, the country is actively working to source Qatari gas from the proposed international LNG terminal in Croatia, where Qatar is likely to be one of the top players delivering LNG there.
Earlier in January, Peter Szijjarto, State Secretary of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office, signed an MoU with Qatar for energy cooperation.
As part of the follow-up of previous agreements, a 25 member high-level business delegation representing a wide spectrum of sectors including, food, agriculture, IT, power and electricity, research and development, and sports is here to meet Qatari businessmen.
“I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Qatar for winning the bid to host the Fifa World Cup in 2022. In this regard, Hungry has a lot to contribute for the overall development of Qatar. Our goals are common so more should be done for mutual benefits,” added Miklossy. “Currently a lot of Qatari sport persons visit Hungary for training which can be continued and expanded in the future.”
He said that Hungary, being part of the EU, can provide access to a market with over 400 million in population. It has a knowledge-based economy which still has competitiveness, especially in the field of agriculture, science and technology.
As Qatar’s imports of meat and poultry products from Syria and Saudi Arabia are often interrupted, Hungary is considered as an alternative destination to ensure smooth supply of quality meat and poultry products.
Commenting about the scope of enhancing export of meat and poultry products, he said: “Hungry is not only popular in poultry products. Apart from beef, and the meat of Game (a white animal) and Ore (a kind of deer), our ducks and goose are also in high demand. Recently a delegation from Saudi Arabia liked the taste of Game so much that they are considering importing it.”
The bilateral trade value saw a quantum jump over the past year. Bilateral trade value stands at $60m for the full year 2012 compared with $40m in 2011. The fresh partnership is expected to further boost the trade volume, he said. The Peninsula
