Hungarian-Turkic Cultural, Higher Education and Innovation Summit in Budapest
MTI – Talks to be held over the next two days offer good hope that Hungarian-Turkic cooperation in culture, higher education and innovation could be brought to a new level, the minister of culture and innovation said on Monday, ahead of the Hungarian-Turkic Cultural, Higher Education and Innovation Summit organised for the first time in Budapest.
Hungarian-Turkic Cultural, Higher Education and Innovation Summit
Representatives of the governments of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye and Uzbekistan have been invited to participate in the event, Balázs Hankó told a press conference.
“Our goal is to adopt a declaration of cooperation on Tuesday that will strengthen joint training in higher education, joint innovation research applications, and set out the construction of research parks,” Hankó said. In culture, cooperation is planned in music, folk art, the film industry and national museums and galleries, he added.
“It is particularly important to establish cooperation that strengthens national identity. There are currently 517 university cooperation agreements with Turkic states, which we would like to further strengthen. Our goal is for the more than 1,600 students from Turkic states studying in Hungary to be even more present in the fields of technology, natural sciences, engineering, and information technology, and to strengthen the position of the Hungarian economy and science in Turkic states through joint and dual degree programs,” said the minister.
According to Balázs Hankó, strengthening Hungary’s economic neutrality depends on university and scientific cooperation, as it is necessary to deepen educational and scientific ties with both Western and Eastern countries. He recalled that last year a Turkish-Hungarian innovation competition was announced, which received eight times more applications than there were places available, “meaning that there is significant potential for cooperation between companies in the two countries.”
He also mentioned that Óbuda University has scientific cooperation with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan and is building a joint innovation park with its Uzbek university partner. “The scientific and innovation potential of the Turkic states has multiplied in recent years, which is why we encourage research and innovation cooperation between Hungary and the Turkic states.”
“The strong cultural ties provide a good basis for innovation, research and economic cooperation between our universities. The linguistic affinity and musical and folk art traditions form close links between the Turkic states and us, and we would now like to deepen these ties,” emphasized Balázs Hankó.
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