Nairobi to Open Embassy in Budapest

Kenya aims to expand its footprint in Central Europe with plans to establish a fourth embassy in the region, which will be located in Hungary’s capital of Budapest.

Kenya’s top diplomat Musalia Mudavadi, engaged in a bilateral meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, on Wednesday in Nairobi, and reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment of establishing a diplomatic mission.

He extended gratitude to Budapest for the 200 scholarships given to Kenyans to study in Hungarian Universities.

“I have engaged my colleague to increase the number of annual scholarships to Kenyan students to 500 to give more room to Kenyans seeking to further their education in Hungary,” Musalia stated.

The two also discussed climate change and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mudavadi extended an official invitation to Hungary to attend the IDA 21 replenishment Summit in Nairobi from April 28-29.

Szijjarto commended Kenya’s efforts in combatting terrorism, emphasising the importance of stability in the region for countries like Hungary.

The Hungarian top foreign policy official was accompanied by the heads of seventeen Hungarian companies, which represent the most modern technologies in their respective fields, so they could contribute to the development of the country’s economy with their investments.

Budapest agreed to launch an aid loan program worth $16 million to Kenya to improve food supply security and modernize agriculture.

The minister announced that Hungarian companies will modernize the Ahero irrigation system worth $5 million and a fishing center in Kabonyo, Kisumu County worth $10 million will be established.

Referring to Hungary’s EU presidency in the second half of the year, the Hungarian minister expressed recognition of Kenya’s call for a “fairer, more balanced international political system”, saying that Hungary supported this aim since politics was now geared towards “lecturing and criticizing each other instead of cooperating”.