The Hungarian government has committed to provide Manila with a €20-million grant (around P1.12 billion) to fund the conduct of a comprehensive study on how to clean up Manila Bay and Laguna Lake, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the grant was part of the €530-million (around P2.96-billion) credit facility offered by Budapest to Filipino business groups to fund their respective businesses to strengthen economic ties between the Philippines and Hungary.
“The fund was offered by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto during a call I made on him yesterday in Budapest after I mentioned the cleanup of lakes, rivers, creeks and bays in the Philippines as part of the DA’s fisheries program for sustainable fishing,” Piñol said in a Facebook post on May 25.
“Szijjarto said the grant and the credit facility is part of the Eastern Shift policy of Hungary, which includes strengthening relations with the Philippines and other countries in East and Southeast Asia,” he added.
Piñol said Szijjarto assured him that the credit facility offered by Hungary, one of the members of the European Union, comes with no strings attached.
“The Hungarian foreign minister emphasized that the credit facility and the Laguna Lake and Manila Bay cleanup study fund are offered without any attached conditions, which would be perceived as interference in the internal affairs of the Philippines,” he said.
“We respect the sovereignty of your country, and you must be allowed to run your own affairs without interference from other countries,” Piñol added, quoting Szijjarto.
President Duterte recently announced that he will decline aid that comes with conditions from the EU, as the Philippines wants to ensure the independence of its internal affairs.
The DA chief said the Hungarian government has also offered 35 scholarships slots to Filipino postgraduate students in the field of agriculture, and five more slots under the Food and Agriculture Organization program.
“During the same meeting, I presented to Szijjarto documents, which would allow three Hungarian companies to export meat products to the Philippines,” Piñol said.
“Hungary is famous for its Hungarian sausage and is one of the biggest exporters of meat among the eastern European countries,” Piñol added.
1 comment
Wow!