“What we support is education. This is the first and most important thing,” Zoltán Balog, Hungarian Minister of Human Resources, told Rudaw.
His government offers 100 spots at Hungarian universities for Iraqi students, with all costs paid by Budapest. “There are certain places for the Kurdish people of Iraq,” he added.
Hungary’s policy is to help build a new class and a new elite that can return to their homeland and help with reconstruction of their country, Balog added.
The KRG’s minister of education welcomed Balog’s visit.
"Hungary is very important for us. Let's not forget that the Hungarian government always and before has supported the desires and rights of the people of Kurdistan,” Pishtiwan Sadiq, the Minister of Education told Rudaw, adding that Hungary is offering numerous scholarships.
The Hungarian minister attended a ceremony for the opening of Maryamana Primary School in the Christian district of Ainkawa in Erbil on Monday. He arrived in the Kurdistan Region on Sunday.
The school has a mixed population.
"We have male and female students. There is a mixture of students in terms of religion, sect, and ethnicity. In other words, we have Kurds, Arabs. We have Christians. We have from every religion," Nazhad Yousif, the supervisor of school, told Rudaw.
Hungary has also assisted training Peshmerga forces as a member of the global anti-ISIS coalition.
