At the Hungarian-Bulgarian Business Forum Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that “Hungary is urging for Bulgaria to become a member of the Schengen Area as soon as possible, because it would also give further impetus to growth in Hungarian-Bulgarian trade flow”.

In his speech, Mr. Szijjártó stressed that in view of the current challenges, countries that want to be among the winners must apply structural reforms and innovative solutions. Hungary and Bulgaria have proven successful in this respect. Hungary’s economic policy has left behind an old economic dogma and has proven that it is in fact possible to achieve economic growth and retain fiscal rigour at the same time, in addition to which foreign policy has been assigned to serving foreign trade interests, he explained.

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The Foreign Minister also pointed out that Hungary had successfully faced the most serious recent challenge by protecting its borders and stopping the largest wave of immigration in history. In this respect, Bulgaria’s performance is also worthy of acknowledgement, because it is conforming to common EU regulations, thanks to which its borders can only be crossed in compliance with the EU’s regulations, he continued.

In Mr. Szijjártó’s view, the immigration crisis also poses a significant economic risk and has shaken the very foundations of the Schengen system. Although Bulgaria is not yet a member of the area, in recent months it has done more in the interests of protecting the existence of the Schengen Area than some of its member states. For this reason, Hungary is urging for Bulgaria to be accepted as a new member of the Schengen Area, he added.

Political relations between Hungary and Bulgaria are in good order and this provides an opportunity for the further development of both economic and trade relations, the Minister said.

Trade flow between Hungary and Bulgaria broke all previous records last year, achieving a year-on-year increase of 14 percent and a trade turnover of 1.3 billion euros, he stated. This includes a new record for Hungarian exports to Bulgaria of 955 million euros, he added. Today’s forum can help achieve further progress, as can the fact that Eximbank has opened a credit line of 370 million euros to promote cooperation between Hungarian and Bulgarian enterprises, he continued.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, the host of new major investment projects is a sure sign if increased business confidence, and several large Hungarian enterprises have realised investment projects in Bulgaria recently. Cooperation could also be facilitated by the fact that Wizzair will be running three direct flights-a-week between Budapest and Sofia beginning in November 2016.

The Minister also announced that the parties would be signing a Hungarian-Bulgarian Cooperation Agreement that provides a secure legal background for business deals, in addition to which a Hungarian-Bulgarian Joint Economic Committee would be set up.

Bulgarian Minister of Economy Bozhidar Lukarski stressed that Bulgaria views the further development of economic relations with Hungary as extremely important.

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“The objective of the Bulgarian Government is to maintain a stable economic and political situation and sustainable economic development”, he highlighted, adding that Bulgaria’s economy has continued to grow despite the economic crisis, inflation is down to 0.3 percent and unemployment has also decreased.

According to Mr. Lukarski, Hungary and Bulgaria could work together successfully in several areas and bilateral economic relations are developing significantly, which offers an opportunity to appear jointly on foreign markets.

CEO of Hungarian National Trading House Cls. Zsanett Ducsai-Oláh spoke about the fact that Hungarian-Bulgarian relations can achieve new horizons by building on mutual benefits. Hungarian enterprises have already discovered the Bulgarian market, are acquiring new partners there and are ready to contribute their knowledge and experience to the development and increased competitiveness of Bulgaria, she said, adding that good opportunities for cooperation exist primarily within the fields of agriculture and the food industry.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)