Visiting Hungarian President Solyom Laszlo attended a ceremony at Josai University's Tokyo campus in Chiyoda Ward Thursday to mark the launch of five scholarships annually to Hungarian students from next April.
The scholarship covers one year's tuition, rent for an apartment, airplane tickets and a ¥50,000 monthly allowance. The money will be awarded to Hungarian students studying at Josai University.
The university has about 13,000 students, of which 230 take Hungarian classes. It has developed its Hungarian connections since a former Hungarian ambassador made a speech at the university in May 2006.
Also on Thursday, Josai University signed an agreement with Szent Istvan University, Hungary's biggest educational organization on agriculture, to promote academic exchanges, including student and teacher exchanges.
Later in the day, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Laszlo agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation on the environment through business investment and research.
The two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation on support for Afghanistan, for which Japan has pledged fresh aid, Hatoyama said at a joint news briefing.
Laszlo suggested that the two countries cooperate on environmental issues by tapping Japan's applied technology because the Hungarians excel at basic research.