Szabolcs Takács, Deputy State Secretary for Global Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid an official visit to Japan, and had meetings with senior officials at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry, the Japanese Business Federation, the Japanese External Trade Organization, and the Asian Development Bank Institute.

When meeting with Kozuki Toyohisa, the recently appointed Director General for European Affairs at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they discussed major areas of bilateral cooperation. The Hungarian Deputy State Secretary informed his partner about Hungary’s new policy of „global opening”, which also implies that Hungary seeks to develop more diverse and more substantial cooperation with Asian countries.

The two parties declared that political, economic and cultural relations between Hungary and Japan were excellent, and Deputy State Secretary Takács stressed that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán visiting Japan next year would give an impetus to developing bilateral relations.

Kozuki Toyohisa affirmed that he would do his utmost to deepen cooperation between the two countries, also emphasizing that Japan appreciated Hungary’s support for launching talks on a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union. 

Deputy State Secretary Takács also attended the Japanese-Hungarian business forum entitled „Invest in Hungary”. The goal of the forum was to introduce Hungarian business environment and to attract Japanese investment. It was discussed at the forum that several Japanese companies are about to make significant investment in Hungary, such as Ibiden, Bridgestone, Japan Synthetic Rubber, Asashi Glass and Konica Minolta. Japan has been the largest Asian investor in Hungary; more than 130 Japanese companies operate in the country and provide jobs for more than 23 000 people.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)