Reception marks National Day of Hungary
Ambassador of Hungary Mr Bela Fazekas has reiterated his commitment to further enhance bilateral relations with Pakistan in multiple areas such as economic cooperation, academic, cultural and tourism collaboration.
The ambassador was addressing as host the National reception at Serena Hotel. Federal Minister for Housing and Works, Riaz Hussein Pirzada was the chief guest on the occasion.
Parliamentarians, diplomats, members of business community, civil society representatives attended the event in large number. The highlight of the event was however, performance by the Hungarian troupe that had travelled all the way to mesmerize the audience.
Chief Guest Riaz Hussain Pirzada on behalf of the Prime Minister and the people of Pakistan congratulated Ambassador Bela, his wife and the Hungarian nationals on the auspicious day and reiterated Pakistan’s strong commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations with Hungary. We have a long history of relations based on mutual trust and respect for each other. Pakistan’s businessmen are keen to invest in Hungary and I also invite the Hungarian investors to come and take benefit of the business-friendly environment here, he said. Some of the Hungarian companies are already doing great work, he said. In his speech, the Hungarian ambassador said in 2024, both Hungary and Pakistan continued bilateral political consultation and were looking forward to other ministerial level visits in the coming months.
The ambassador further said, trade has doubled in the last four years. There are more and more Pakistani-Hungarian joint ventures in the field of agriculture and water management. ‘The top Hungarian company active in Pakistan is the MOL, which has 25 years of presence in this country. MOL is one of the largest foreign investors in the oil and gas industry and the second largest producer of oil in Pakistan,’ he said.
But there is something else which makes MOL Pakistan unique among foreign investors, the ambassador said adding, the company was not only complying with environmental regulations but going much beyond to protect local biodiversity through its nature loving expats. While referring to the backdrop that was printed as ‘Magyaristan ka Qaumi Din’ the ambassador said he deliberately used for his Urdu-speaking friends the word Magyaristan instead of “Hungry” which sounds a bit unfortunate. If your national poet Muhammad Iqbal could use the Persian when he wrote about Hungary, I cannot see any problem to use this version,’ the ambassador said in a lighter mood.
