“No country’s economy can be successful without small and medium-sized enterprises”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary Levente Magyar declared on Monday in Subotica (Szabadka), Serbia, where he attended the official inauguration of two company expansion projects realised within the framework of the Hungarian Government’s Vojvodina Economic Development Programme.

“Over 10,500 successful tenders have already been realised within the framework of the Economic Development Programme, and only around a dozen remain to be inaugurated. The Programme has enabled the realisation of some 75 billion forints (EUR 224 million) in development to date, and this sum could exceed 100 billion forints (EUR 300 million) by the end of 2020”. Mr. Magyar highlighted.

According to the State Secretary, this is a scale of development, the realisation of which is “practically inconceivable and unforeseeable”. “We have not yet reached that stage, but all signs indicate that it will be successfully realised. This means that the performance of the Hungarian economy, the vitality and will to live of Vojvodinan Hungarians, and the friendly approach of the Serbian Government all lead to the conclusion that we will be able to realise these plans, and will successfully exceed the 100 billion forint threshold in 2020”, Mr. Magyar underlined.

“Interest is still huge in Vojvodina”, he added. “This is a series of investments that is providing an unprecedentedly high level of return for the Hungarian economy”, he explained. “Hungary is marketing a much larger quantity of goods in Serbia than the other way around, which means that Hungarian investments are generating a multiple return in the mother country”, the State Secretary explained. “But these investments are also important because Hungary would like to develop a Central European economic area, which is inconceivable without Serbia”, he added. “When we launched the Economic Development Programme, our target was to reinforce family businesses; smaller enterprises that provide the backbone of economic life in Vojvodina, and also to fund large Hungarian enterprises. It was clear that we must also support larger private sector companies in view of the fact that these are the support pillars of Hungarian business life, and if the Hungarian economy gains strength and if Hungarian businesses in Serbia are strong, then Serbia will also gain strength as a result”, the State Secretary emphasised at the official inauguration of the investment project realised by Masterplant YU Limited. “It has been proven that there is vitality and a will to live in this community”, he declared.

“Serbia and Hungary have a difficult history behind them, but in future the two countries will be extremely successful together”, he explained. “It is related to our joint future, for example, that Hungary has received the enlargement portfolio in the European Commission, and the new Commissioner will be working to ensure that Serbia, and accordingly Vojvodina too, can become part of the European Union as soon as possible”, the State Secretary continued. “In this European Union, we will be constructing Central Europe together, since nobody should have any doubt that Serbia is also part of Central Europe, and Hungary will ensure that everyone acknowledges and accepts this”, he underlined, adding that the two countries are linked by thousands of strands, for instance via the development of the Szeged-Subotica and Budapest-Belgrade railway lines. “We will only be further reinforcing these links in future”, he declared. “Serbia’s economy is on the threshold of huge development, and could soon catch up to Hungary”, he added.

In his speech, President of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians István Pásztor highlighted that an important consequence of the Economic Development Programme, that will have a long-term effect, is the reinforcement of human relations and the establishment of new relations; the tighter weaving of the network of relations. As he explained, this could not have come about without the courage of entrepreneurs, or the work and dedication of the staff of the Prosperitati Foundation, which is realising the Programme. “We have the Hungarian Government to thank for the funding, but the realisation of these development projects is the achievement of the Hungarian community in Vojvodina”, he added. “Our plans would be futile without an opportunity, but the opportunity would remain unexploited without the vitality that is continuously evident within the community”, he declared.

He also pointed out that in recent months an official invitation has been issued asking entrepreneurs to write down what they would spend funding on if they had an opportunity to realise further development projects. Mr. Pásztor drew attention to the fact that over 160 plans with a volume of development exceeding 100 thousand euros were submitted, and an effort will be made to draw up tenders that correspond to these ideas before the end of this year. Budapest originally earmarked a budget of 50 billion forints (EUR 150 million) for the 2016-2018 first phase of the Vojvodina Economic Development Programme, but later significantly increased the available budget. Within the Programme, the greatest emphasis was placed on agriculture, tourism, and the development of small and medium-sized businesses, the goal being to stop the emigration of young people abroad and to reverse the process. The second phase of the Vojvodina Economic Development Programme was launched this year.

(MTI)