Trade
INDO-HUNGARIAN TRADE
Indo-Hungarian trade , though still much below the potential, has been increasing steadily.
INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE OF ECONOMIC COOPERATION:
I. Trade and other agreements: A number of agreements provide the institutional framework for economic cooperation with Hungary:
- Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAC) (signed in November, 2003)
- Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (BIPA) (Nov, 2003)
- MoU on IT Cooperation (Nov.2003)
- Agreement on Defence Cooperation (Nov.2003)
- Economic Cooperation Agreement (June 2005)
- Cultural Exchange Programme (Oct 2006)
- Agreement on the cooperation in the field of Agriculture (Jan 2008)
- Agreement in the field of Science and Technology (Jan 2008)
- Health Cooperation Agreement (Jan 2008)
- Agreement between ONGC and MOL for joint exploration (January 2008)
- Establishment of a Strategic Fund of Euro 2 million (Jan 2008)
- MoU on Social Security Agreement (Feb 2010)
- MoU between ITDH and FICCI on Trade and Investment Cooperation (Feb 2010)
- Agreement on Arbitration between FICCI and HCCI (Feb 2010)
- MoU on cooperation between HITA and FICCI in (Oct 2013)
- MoU on Traditional Systems of Medicine, Ministry of Health India, Ministry of Human Resources Hungary (Oct 2013)
II. Joint Business Council: Set up in 1979 under an agreement between FICCI and Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and had met regularly to promote direct contact between business delegations. It last met in New Delhi in November, 2003 during Hungarian former Prime Minister, Mr. Medgyessy’s visit.
III. Joint Commission: An Inter-governmental Joint Commission was set up in 1973 and met regularly.
The 11th Session of the Indo-Hungarian Joint Commission took place on 1st October, 2003 after a gap of more than six years. The Minister for Commerce and Industry and Law and Justice Shri Arun Jaitley and Mr. Csaba Laszlo, former Hungarian Minister of Finance co-chaired the Joint Commission. Representatives from a range of sectors of interest including pharmaceuticals, IT, Construction, Cement, Power, automobile, R&D etc. participated in the meeting. From the Hungarians side, representatives from the power sector, EXIMBank, the Investment and Trade Development of Hungary, Water Management, Agriculture, pharmaceuticals, etc., attended. The Protocol signed after the conclusion of the JCM outlined priority areas of cooperation for the future.
The Second Session of the India-Hungary Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation (JCEC) and the meeting of the Joint Business Commission (JBC) were held at Budapest during February 1-2 2010. The JCEC delegation was lead by H.E. Mr. Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry. Shri Anand Sharma said that greater efforts will be made to step up trade and investment flows between India and Hungary and highlighted new sectors for cooperation like energy, medical equipment, agro-processing, dairy plants, water management, waste management and waste water purification. Both sides agreed to increase the level of trade to USD 1 billion by 2012. An agreement for oil exploration has already been signed between MOL, the Hungarian Oil Company, and ONGC of India in which MOL is a 35% partner. It was agreed that the two countries will strengthen cooperation in the IT sector and an MoU detailing the areas of cooperation will be entered into between the Hungarian association of IT companies and Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) India. The India-Hungary S&T fund of Euro 2 million per annum for the promotion of joint research projects will soon be internationalized and bilateral S&T projects would be selected for funding.
A Social Security Agreement was signed between the two countries on the sidelines of the JCEC, which would address the issues on social security tax particularly in the case of IT sector. An agreement on Trade and Investment cooperation was also signed between Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and ITD Hungary. The chambers of the two countries also signed an agreement on arbitration. Subsequently during the visit of PM Orban to India in October 2013 an MoU on coorperation between FICCI and HITA, (the successor of ITD Hungary) was signed. During the visit the signing of an MoU on Traditional Systems of Medicine between the Indian Ministry of Health and the Hungarian Ministry of Human Resources also took place.
LATEST ECONOMIC EVENTS:
Recent years have seen the rapid upgradation of India-Hungary cooperation in diverse sectors. Today our bilateral cooperation extends not merely to commercial and investment partnerships but also to the fields of agriculture, defence industry, health including Ayurveda, oil exploration, science and technology, and educational and cultural exchanges. This cooperation is set to strengthen even further in the future.
