The Government is engaged in talks about thirty new German corporate projects which may account for some eight thousand new jobs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told the Hungarian public service media in Berlin on Wednesday where he will attend the business forum of the conservative German newspaper Die Welt.

In his statement made before the conference which will be attended, inter alia, by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel, Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schauble and other business leaders, Mr Szijjártó highlighted that by virtue of almost all of the 30 potential projects, jobs may come into being which represent a high added value and which form part of the digital economy.

He underlined: one of the main missions of 2017 will be to change over to a new type of economy, and in this German companies play a prominent role. The Government has in turn implemented all measures which are, in the assessment of German businesses, necessary for Hungary to become successful and competitive also during “the digital era”.

As he said, he will point out at the forum of Die Welt that the Government has implemented the necessary measures, as part of which it has introduced the EU’s lowest corporation tax, has reduced the rate of the social contribution from 27 to 22 per cent and will reduce it by a further 2 per cent next year, has introduced tax benefits which serve to promote work force mobility and research and development, and within the framework of the benefits which are designed to promote investments, the Government now provides grants not only for jobs, but also for technological developments.

He added: the invitation to the forum is obviously “a great achievement, and clearly demonstrates that the Visegrád countries, including Hungary, are seen as the support base of modern German industry which constitutes the backbone of the European economy”.

The Germans trade 50 per cent more with the Visegrád Four (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia) than with France, and trade approximately 50 to 55 per cent more with the Central-European countries than with the United States, which clearly indicates that „it is extremely important also from the viewpoint of the future of the German economy that the Central-European economies should do well”, Mr Szijjártó pointed out.

It is not a mere coincidence that all “the figures point in the same direction”: unemployment decreased to below 5 per cent in Germany and in Hungary at the same time, and the rate of employment likewise reached a historical record in the two countries simultaneously, the Minister added.

He highlighted that last year the volume of trade between the two countries was higher than ever before, and reached EUR 47 billion by the end of the year. The some 6,000 German businesses operating in Hungary provide jobs for 300,000 people. This, too, shows that Germany “is one of the most important allies” of Hungary in Europe from a political and economic point of view. It should not be concealed, however, that there are major differences between the two Governments on a very important issue as the Hungarian Government takes the view that Europe’s increased exposure to the threat of terrorism is directly linked to illegal migration, while this view „is not shared by our German colleagues”, Mr Szijjártó said.

At the same time, it is likewise very important that there is full agreement on the issue which determines the future of the continent: both Hungary and Germany share the view that Europe’s security must be reinforced most decisively within the shortest possible time, and it is necessary to curb the threat of terrorism with a common European army and through closer cooperation in the defence industry and in intelligence gathering. As far as the economy is concerned, both countries take the view that Europe’s lost competitiveness must be regained through economic growth combined with a disciplined and responsible fiscal policy, rather than by relying “on the money of others, especially the money of the Germans”, the Minister said.

Mr Szijjártó also said that in addition to the digital economy, another great challenge of 2017 will be to transcend “the dogma” that „either we raise salaries, or we improve competitiveness”.

“We shall prove that it is indeed possible to raise the people’s salaries and to improve the country’s economic competitiveness all at once”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

(MTI)