State Secretary Péter Szijjártó, who also serves as Government Commissioner in charge of Hungarian-Russian bilateral relations, on Monday opened the Hungarian Trading House in Moscow, established in cooperation with the Questor Group.

The Trading House consists of a business and investment centre and a consignment storage base. Its tasks will include investment brokerage, business advice, and trade and tourism activities.

State Secretary Szijjártó stated that the significant strengthening of Hungarian-Russian economic, trade and business relations is an important element of the Government's "opening to the East" policy.

"The Government's main economic policy objective is to make Hungary a European production hub, but at the same time, it is also necessary to sell our products. As a result, the main economic policy task is to find markets for Hungarian industrial and agricultural products. The Trading House in Moscow is expected to play a crucial role in balancing out the 5 billion dollar Hungarian deficit in Hungarian-Russian trade relations within 3-4 years," he said.

The State Secretary emphasised after talks with Russian Farm Minister Nikolai Fedorov that Russian deliveries to Hungary amounted to 8.8 billion dollars last year while Hungary's exports to Russia made up merely 3.3 billion. Hungary could narrow the gap mainly by stepping up its agricultural and food industry exports, he added.

He also pointed out that Hungary planned to extend its network of representation offices with new branches in Rostov, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar.

(Prime Minister's Office)