Hungary will establish cooperation with Uzbekistan in a number of areas, including nuclear energy, Hungary Today reported, citing Peter Szijjártó, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Szijjártó led the Hungarian delegation at the 7th meeting of the Hungarian-Uzbek intergovernmental commission, held on 4 May which discussed the further deepening of cooperation.

Hungary agreed to provide cooling technologies for the projected NPP to be built in Uzbekistan’s Jizzakh region, within the framework of a project estimated at €300-400 million. Hungary will also train specialists in the field of nuclear energy. Other areas of co-operation included agriculture, water management and tourism.  Preliminary agreements were reached on joint projects in pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, building materials, the chemical industry and the textile industry. 

 Under current plans, nuclear power is expected to account for around 8% of Uzbekistan’s electricity by 2030. Uzbekistan and Russia signed an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy in 2017, and in 2018 a further agreement was signed for the construction by Rosatom of two VVER-1200 reactors with a combined capacity of 2400MW. They are expected to be commissioned in 2028 and 2030, respectively. Engineering surveys continue at a priority site near lake Tuzkan in Jizzakh region.