“Harmony must be established between national and global interests to restore the political and social acceptance of international free trade agreements”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in the recess of the Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
“It is in Hungary’s interests for the negative international mood that has developed regarding free trade agreements to change and for support for them to be restored, because this is what enables an improvement in the rate of growth of the global economy”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
However, the Minister also drew attention to the fact that “global interests are made up of compounded national interests (…) and national interests cannot be disregarded even in international commerce”. According to Mr Szijjártó, in Hungary’s case this relates to agricultural sensitivity and certain industrial issues.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister is the presiding chairman of the working group that deals with the role of international economic organisations in the introduction of labour and environmental standards, facilitating adherence to norms relating to responsible business behaviour, and promoting international action against corruption and illegal commerce.
Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that Hungary has an extremely open economy in which the export to GDP ratio exceeds 90 parent, and accordingly external factors such as foreign investment have a major effect on the performance of the national economy. As a result, Hungary has an interest in the expansion of the global economy once again embarking on a growth trajectory following the decline observed during the past two years.
With relation to this, the Minister mentioned four things that in his opinion the OECD must handle as a priority. In addition to regaining public support for free trade agreements, these are maintaining the balance between environmental protection and competitiveness, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the fight against illegal trade.
“We must prevent nuclear energy from being negatively discriminated against, including at international level, and energy use must remain within a national sphere of competence”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.
“In view of the fact that SMEs make up the backbone of national economies, care must be taken to ensure that as many of these enterprises as possible are able to become part of the supply chains of large multinational companies. One of the important elements of the Hungarian administration’s economic policy is that it supports SMEs in view of this fact, since 25 percent of workers in Hungary are employed by multinational companies and multinational companies also generate 60 percent of the country’s GDP”, he pointed out.
The high expenses that hinder the success of SMEs may be reduced through digitalisation in view of the fact that “digital trading assures them equal opportunities in the face of large international corporations”, he added.
The Minister also determined the fight against illegal commerce as one of the most important tasks in view of the fact that it can ruin prospects for countries with open economies.
“It is in Hungary’s particular interests for a committed and non-selective international cooperation to be established to combat illegal commerce”, he said.
“Hungary supports and is happy to join the Dutch ‘Open Economies and Inclusive Societies Network’ initiative, which was founded at the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on Thursday.
The priority topics of the network will include promoting trade and investment, combatting protectionism, the establishment of a trade and investment environment that assures equal opportunities, reducing excessive inequalities and providing international support for high standards. The latter includes several fundamental principles, guidelines, initiatives and recommendations published by the OECD on, amongst others, action to stop international bribery and international tax evasion, and within the field of corporate management and responsible business practices. The founding members are mainly OECD member states, but developing countries are also being encouraged to join the initiative.
(MTI)
