Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Tuesday Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, who is on a three-day visit to Egypt, to discuss bilateral cooperation, in addition to regional and international files of mutual interest. After the bilateral talks session between the two leaders, they announced a joint declaration on the strategic partnership between the two countries, which represents a framework for raising the level of relations between the two countries, reflecting the extent and depth of excellence that they have reached during the recent period, according to the spokesperson of the presidency, Ahmed Fahmy. Fahmy added that the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of a number of memorandums of understanding between Egypt and Hungary in the sectors of education and training in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, youth and sports, increasing the number of undergraduate and post-university scholarships for the years 2023/2026, and the Hungarian Scholarship Program "Stipendium" for the years 2023/2026. Later, the two leaders held a joint press conference in which Al-Sisi welcomed his Hungarian guest, saying that the visit is of particular importance, in light of the signing today of a declaration to upgrade relations between the two countries to the level of strategic partnership, which reflects the strength and depth of relations between the two countries, since the establishment of diplomatic relations between them is 1928. "The discussions with the Hungarian Prime Minister focused on discussing ways further to strengthen bilateral economic relations between the two countries, as we agreed on the great benefit that Hungarian investors will accrue from investing in Egypt, especially in the Suez Canal economic zone," said Al-Sisi. Al-Sisi and Orban also stressed the need to continue forming ties between Egyptian companies and their Hungarian counterparts, as well as exchanging experiences in the fields of agriculture, water management and irrigation, examining ways of cooperation to confront the global food and energy crises, and working to increase the number of tourists between the two countries. Both leaders also stressed the importance of implementing the contract for the supply of 1,350 railway cars from Hungary within the agreed time frames, and we touched on the need to discuss ways of joint cooperation to localize the railway car industry in Egypt. Al-Sisi pointed out that the discussions also dealt with the importance of continuing to work on strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in the fields of transport, trade, industry, energy, tourism, agriculture, irrigation and water management, as well as in the fields of culture and education. During the talks, views were also exchanged regarding the international and regional crises, especially in the Middle East and Europe, "where there is a great convergence in the views between the two countries in this regard, in terms of the need to reach a peaceful settlement to the Russian/Ukrainian crisis, as soon as possible."
