The Hungarian-Turkic Summit on Culture, Education and Innovation opened in Budapest on 28 April 2025, bringing together ministers and high-level officials from Hungary and the Turkic states around three fields central to the region's long-term development.

Addressing the opening, OTS Secretary General Ambassador Kubanychbek Omuraliev emphasized Hungary's role as an Observer of the Organization of Turkic States and highlighted the dynamic, multifaceted cooperation that has developed between Hungary and the Turkic states. He underlined the significance of convening ministers and senior officials specifically on culture, education and innovation – domains in which Hungary's engagement with the Turkic world has been especially active, notably through the scholarship opportunities Hungarian institutions extend to students from the region.

The Budapest summit acquires added meaning in light of subsequent developments. At the 8th General Assembly of the Turkic Universities Union in Tashkent in October 2025, the Government of Hungary presented proposals for a joint Research, Development and Innovation Fund and for an enhanced Orhun Exchange Programme – initiatives consistent with the education-and-innovation agenda convened in Budapest months earlier.

For TURKUNIB and its member universities, Hungary's sustained engagement widens the Union's horizons: an observer state with strong European academic networks actively proposing instruments for research funding and student mobility strengthens the bridge between the Turkic higher education space and the wider European academic community.

Photo: Organization of Turkic States (turkicstates.org)

Photo: Organization of Turkic States (turkicstates.org)

Based on official OTS reporting: Hungarian-Turkic Summit on Culture, Education and Innovation started its work in Budapest