Hungary is determined to maintain strong bilateral relations with the USA; last year, the volume of bilateral trade exceeded USD 5.4bn, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said when he visited the Amazon headquarters and met with Vice Presidents Susan Pointer and Dave Bozeman in Seattle.

During the talks with one of the world’s largest online retailers the Minister noted that in 2017Hungary had a positive balance of USD 1bn regarding trade with the USA and this shows the significance of relations between the two countries.

The volume of Hungary’s mail order and internet retailing, which accounts for 4 percent of the total volume of retailing, grew by 28 percent year-on-year in 2017, and thus an upward trend observed in recent years has continued. The value of trade in this sector was up from HUF 308bn in 2016 to some HUF 400bn in 2017. This signals that there still huge potential in internet retailing and this may lead to the sector’s expansion and consumption growth, he added. Based on steady economic growth and double-digit wage growth, the retail sector is expected to see long-term growth.

Mihály Varga has also paid a visit to the headquarters of Boeing Group. The Hungarian Government has provided a large grant for the building of an engineering centre by Germany-based aircraft component manufacturer and Boeing supplier Diehl in Debrecen, the Minister said. Hungary has been committed to support R&D, especially for products of high value added, and various Hungarian tertiary education institutions have joined these activities in recent years.

(Ministry of Finance)