The largest bank in Hungary, OTP Bank, plans to enter the Uzbek market. The prospects for opening a bank in the country were discussed at a meeting between the Uzbekistan Deputy PM Sardor Umurzakov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjártó in Tashkent.

The parties noted the significant upward trend in the two-way trade - in 5 months alone, the bilateral trade figure rose 40 percent to the last year, and noted the importance of joint efforts to implementation of the Road Map to elevate the trade with Hungary to US$ 100 million, which was agreed upon following the meeting of the heads of the two states within the framework of the meeting of the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States (CCTS) in October last year. Also in this context, the prospects for the creation of an Uzbek-Hungarian trading house in Hungary were discussed.

The sides outlined concrete steps to advance partnership in the banking and financial sector, in particular, they explored the prospects of opening of the branch of the Hungarian OTP Bank in Uzbekistan, as well as the opportunities for the implementation of joint projects with the attraction of funds from the Hungarian Eximbank.

Separately, progress was noted in bringing the business communities of the two countries closer together - at present, a draft document on the establishment of the Uzbek-Hungarian Business Council has been approved. The activities of this bodies will be aimed at further strengthening cooperation between the business communities of Uzbekistan and Hungary.

The Deputy PM Umurzakov announced that Uzbekistan is ready to expand cooperation in the “Uzbekistan-Hungary-EU” format as part of the promotion of the EU Strategy for Central Asia, as well as to actively cooperate within the framework of the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA) between Uzbekistan and the EU, which will allow bring Uzbek-European relations to a qualitatively new level.