“Hungary and the Hungarian economy have every chance to be among the winners of the currently developing new global economy era”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Budapest.

The Minister received British Member of Parliament Liam Fox in his office, following which at a joint press conference he explained: “This requires that the new system that comes into being is unrestricted, free and fair, so that Hungarian enterprises can take part in the competition without restriction.” “This is why it is important for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to have a leader who occupies an important government position at home and has major political experience, and Liam Fox is such a man”, he stated. (Great Britain has nominated former British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox for the post of WTO Director-General.)

“Prior to the election of the new WTO Director-General, Liam Fox is visiting five European cities, and his trip to Budapest calls into question opinions relating to the supposed isolation of Hungarian foreign policy”, he pointed out. “The election of the new WTO Director-General is also important because the Hungarian economy is one of the most open in the world, and thanks to the efforts of the Hungarian people the country’s weight within global trade is higher than would otherwise be justified based on its population”, the Foreign Minister explained. “In recent years we have consecutively broken all previous export and investment records”, he reminded the press.

The Minister said that in his opinion a new global economic order is currently being established, fierce competition is coming about, and the pandemic has accelerated this process even further. “Countries are being divided into winners and losers, and we must do everything possible to ensure that Hungary is among the winners of the new global economic era”, he stated. “This requires workplaces, in the interests of which the government and enterprises have formed an alliance aimed at replacing all workplaces that have been swept away by the epidemic”, he added.
Mr. Szijjártó reminded reporters that 904 enterprises have applied for funding within the framework of the Competitiveness-Increasing Program, and have committed themselves to realising over 400 billion forints (EUR 1.118 billion) in investment. “154 thousand jobs have been successfully protected as a result”, he added. He also mentioned that according to the agreement concluded with the European Union, the Hungarian government is now able to provide investment funding to large corporations with no upper threshold, and 34 companies have announced that they will be realising a total of 120 billion forints (EUR 335.5 million) in investments over the coming months.
Liam Fox emphasised that the WTO plays an extremely important role in the development of global trade, but is currently struggling with major problems of a political nature. “Free trade is the future of global commerce, and the Organisation must also work to facilitate this”, he declared. The former British Secretary of State for International Trade said he agrees with Hungary’s position according to which a free market is needed, and this must continue to be assured in future. “Free trade is also important in the interests of maintaining prosperity and security, and is additionally extremely significant from a social perspective”, he said. In reply to a question from the press, the British politician said: “The British made a democratic decision when they decided to leave the European Union, and they had the right to make that decision”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)