State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó concluded several trade agreements with Prime Minister of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich in Minsk on Wednesday, thus laying the foundations for the further development of trade relations.

As a result, a direct flight route between Minsk, Budapest and Belgrade will be launched on 19 September.

The parties also agreed that negotiations would begin on an investment protection agreement as soon as the required authorisation was received form the EU.

In addition, talks will also begin to re-enable exports of Hungarian cattle to the Eastern European country, said the State Secretary, who also met with the Belarus Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and the President of the Belarus development bank.

According to the State Secretary, there is also a good chance that Hungarian enterprises could take part in the construction of Dinamo Minsk's new stadium. Eximbank has opened a 250 million euro national credit line to enable Hungarian enterprises to operate successfully on the Belarus market.

Trade between Hungary and Belarus was USD 237 million last year, and trade during the first quarter of this year was the first time since 2008, by ten percent.

The Belarus party expressed interest in cooperating with Hungarian automotive manufacturer Rába, because it would like to import engines primarily for agricultural machinery and buses.

During the negotiations, an agreement was also reached on the launching of Hungarian language training at Minsk University.

The Hungarian-Belarus Economic Joint Committee will be holding its next session on October 8-9 in Budapest, in conjunction with a Hungarian-Belarus business forum.

(Prime Minister’s Office)