Hungary seeks to build a strategic partnership with Singapore, Hungarian Economy Minister Janos Koka said at a meeting of Hungarian and Singaporean businessmen held here on Tuesday, according to MTI News Agency.
Koka said that logistics, new technologies and research and development could be key areas of such partnership between the two countries. He said that Hungary was playing a similar role in Central Europe just as Singapore in South-East Asia. Singapore has now become that region's logistics center through a clever use of its geographical location, he added.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was present at the meeting, said that relations between Singapore and Hungary could result in new business opportunities for his country, adding that there was much the two countries could learn from each other and that Singapore's ties with central Europe "were not so developed as yet."
Lee and his Hungarian counterpart Ferenc Gyurcsany are scheduled to sign an economic co-operation agreement, focusing on information technology and the drugs industry.
Singapore is Hungary's major business partner in Southeast Asia. In 2006 bilateral trade exceeded 700 million dollars, of which Hungarian exports amounted to over 130 million dollars, and imports made up about 580 million dollars.
Lee also discussed the situation in Myanmar and the rise of India and China with the Hungarian negotiators.
The Singaporean prime minister arrived in Hungary on Monday, heading a 26-member delegation of senior Singaporean businessmen for a three-day visit.
Source: Xinhua
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