Doha: Qatar's ties with Hungary are likely to get a major boost when Hungarian President Pál Schmitt visits Doha in April, Ambassador Szabó László said.
"We hope to sign very important agreements on protection of investments, economic cooperation, avoidance of double taxation, cultural education and scientific research," László said.
"We are also working on some agreements in the field of sports. Some of the Hungarian teams may visit Qatar during winter," the ambassador told Qatar Tribune.
Schmitt, an Olympic gold medalist in men's team épée in 1968 and 1972, will take part in the 9th International Conference on Sports and Environment, organised by the International Olympic Committee in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme and the Qatar Olympic Committee on April 30 - May1.
Commercial exchange between Hungary and Qatar has increased from Euro 2.8 million in 2003 to 28.2 million in 2008, the ambassador said.
"Seventy percent of the bilateral trade between the two countries is exports from Hungary to Qatar. We expect our export in 2010 to be around Euro 22 million," he said.
Hungary has plans to buy LNG from Qatar, and since it does not have seashore, it is negotiating with Croatia for using its maritime terminal, László said.
"We are also planning to create North- South pipeline to import oil. Earlier, we imported oil only from Russia, but we are now looking for alternative supply sources," he said.
"We mainly export products of multinationals like Nokia, Audi and General Electric. We are looking for joint venture in the field of IT and banking security system. We will start exporting Mercedes in two years and we also have full production of Suzuki and Opel."
According to the diplomat, Qatar Airways' direct flight to Budapest opened new vistas of opportunities for people in the Gulf as well as in Hungary, which holds the rotational presidency of the European Union.
"The Gulf countries are very important for Hungary. The Qatar Airways flight will reduce the cost of cargo from Hungary to Gulf countries and vice-versa. It will also reduce the travel time by approximately six hours and help businessmen to exchange visits and explore opportunities for trade and investments," László said.
