Official visit to the Maldives by His Excellency Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary
The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, paid an official visit to the Maldives on 9 November 2022, on the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, Abdulla Shahid. Minister Szijjártó was accompanied by an official delegation from the Government of Hungary.
During this visit, Minister Szijjártó paid a courtesy call on the President of the Republic of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Minister Shahid and Minister Szijjártó also held Official talks and key agreements were signed to further strengthen the existing bilateral relations between Maldives and Hungary. Minister Szijjártó further held meetings with the Minister of Economic Development, Uz. Fayyaz Ismail and the Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan.
At the Official talks, both the Ministers explored avenues to enhance cooperation especially in the fields of trade, health, education, youth and sports, fisheries, tourism, environment, and climate change. Underscoring the importance of enhancing trade and investment between the two countries, both the Ministers signed an agreement to promote business linkages, exchange of expertise and convene seminars between Maldives and Hungary. Under this agreement, a Joint Economic Commission comprising of officials and experts from both the countries will also be established to guide the development of projects, activities and programmes related to the agreement.
On cooperation in the field of higher education, Minister of Higher Education of the Maldives, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan, and Minister Szijjártó, signed an additional protocol to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concluded between the Maldives and Hungary in 2021 regarding the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship programme. The additional protocol to the existing MoU would provide a total of 25 scholarships annually which is an increase of 10 scholarships, to Maldivian students to study bachelors, masters and doctoral level courses from Universities in Hungary.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment of the Maldives, Ahmed Mahloof and Minister Szijjártó, also signed an MoU in the field of sports diplomacy with the interest to establish and develop close cooperation in this area. The MoU would facilitate organisation of sports events, exchange of expertise in sports infrastructure and provide training opportunities.
Recalling the importance of enhancing people-to-people ties between the two countries, Minister Szijjártó announced the Government of Hungary’s decision to join the VFS Visa facilitation Centre in Male and to commence operations in November 2022. Minister Shahid expressed appreciation for this decision and reiterated the Government of Maldives interest to obtain visa free status for Maldivian nationals to travel to EU member states.
Minister Shahid also expressed appreciation for the support provided by the Government of Hungary during his presidency at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly and reaffirmed the support of the Government of Maldives to Ambassador Kőrösi as the President of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Minister Szijjártó also congratulated the Maldives on being elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2023-2025 and expressed commitment to enhance engagement within the multilateral sphere to tackle global challenges of mutual interest.
On regional and international issues of mutual importance, Minister Shahid reiterated his appreciation to the Government of Hungary for their assistance in facilitating safe passage for Maldivian students in Ukraine via Hungary in March this year. Minister Shahid also commended the Government of Hungary for their key role in providing the necessary humanitarian assistance regarding the ongoing conflict in Europe.
The visit of Foreign Minister Szijjártó marks the first-ever official visit to Maldives by a Foreign Minister of Hungary.