“Hungary would like to develop even closer economic relations with the United States, in addition to which even more American companies would like to increase their investments in Hungary”, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Minister of State for Economic Diplomacy, Levente Magyar said following talks with a delegation from the US-Hungary Business Council (USHBC).

The primary goal of the USHBC is the development of a more active dialogue between the Hungarian Government and the American business community within an institutionalised framework that provides the parties with a direct opportunity to exchange their views and plans during regular meetings and an annual business mission held in Budapest.

“In the interests of developing bilateral economic relations, Hungary will be further expanding its economic diplomacy presence in the United States and will be representing the interests and performance of the economy in Texas, Florida and Boston”, the Minister of State highlighted.

“The Business Council enables large American corporations that already have significant investments here, or are seriously interested in trade and investment opportunities, to exchange their experiences with relation to Hungary”, Mr. Magyar stressed,

“The Council is working better and more effectively than ever before to bring together the two countries, officials from the Hungarian Government and representatives of the U.S. business community, so they can discuss how to develop even closer cooperation”, he pointed out.

“Parallel to this, the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is also working to ensure that interest in Hungary on the part of American business is maintained, Mr. Magyar highlighted. “In addition to military and security cooperation, business relations were always among the factors that stood at the forefront of bilateral relations”, the Minister of State emphasised.

Chairman of the USHBC Eric Stewart pointed out that the United States is the second largest investor in Hungary after Germany, but U.S. companies would like to the Unites States to achieve first place.

The American economic expert told reporters that 10 large U.S. corporations were represented at the latest meeting of the Council, who would like to expand bilateral relations and are expecting an increase in investment projects. American investors would also like to crate ore jobs in Hungary, he added, indicating that the Hungarian Government had received their ideas positively.

In reply to a question from Hungarian news agency MTI, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that today, investments on the part of German companies total some 21.5 billion euros, while the total value of investment realised by American companies is some 15.2 billion euros.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)