Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary were established a year after the former state's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
The Republic of Hungary recognized independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan on December 26, 1991[1] and the diplomatic relations were established on November 27, 1992. The Hungarian Embassy in Azerbaijan was established on January 12, 2009. Since December 14, 2010 ambassador of Hungary in Azerbaijan is Mr. Zsolt Cutora. Embassy of Azerbaijan in Hungary was opened in September 2004. Currently, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Hungary is H.E. Mr. Vilayat Guliyev.
Azerbaijan is full-fledged member at Organization of Turkic States while Hungary has observer status.
There are around hundreds of Azerbaijanis in Hungary.
Hungary signed strategic partnership agreement with Azerbaijan on November 11, 2014.[5] Besides the main agreement, an aviation document cooperating on restarting direct flights between Budapest and Baku, a scholarship agreement for 200 Azerbaijani students, and further agreements on sports, youth and tourism were all signed today.[6]
Azerbaijani Hungarian Youth Union (AHYU) was established on December 6, 2012, by active representatives of Hungarian youth and Azerbaijani youth working and studying in Hungary.[9] The main goal serves for improving Azerbaijani-Hungarian relations on youth level by creating and promoting youth to youth communication.[10]
Azerbaijan is considered one of the most promising markets for Hungarian universities seeking to attract foreign students[citation needed], and leading universities of the country are ready to provide Azerbaijani students with quality education in such majors as international relations, management, ICT, medicine, agriculture, engineering, and water supply. Opportunity for the study of Azerbaijani students in Hungary were created by an agreement on a scholarship program for students, which was signed in 2012 in Budapest on the sidelines of a meeting of the intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. Starting from 2015 Hungary will admit 200 Azerbaijani students under this program and the Hungarian side will pay for education, provide a dormitory and grant students a monthly scholarship worth about 40,460 Hungarian forints (~125 euro).[13]
Hungary will need to find new sources to ensure the security of its energy supplies for the long term, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told in reaction to Russia's dropping plans for the South Stream gas pipeline project. Concerning the actual options, Szijjarto mentioned gas imported from Azerbaijan.[14]
Azerbaijani-Hungarian Business forum was organized in Budapest in November, 2014.[15]
Azerbaijan to support Hungarian institute for blind children. The foundation stone of a new wing of the Laszlo Batthyany Institute for Blind Children, to be constructed in part from Azerbaijani funds, was laid in Budapest in January, 2014.[20] The project will cost 500 million forints (EUR 1.67m), of which 240 million will be covered by the Azerbaijani foundation.[citation needed]