“The Central European Region has become the engine of European growth”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Virovitica (Verőce) in northern Croatia at the official inauguration of the Croatian-Hungarian owned AMS Biomass Power Plant.

“Thirty years ago, a new Europe was born when the Central Europeans reoccupied their place among the countries that they had always belonged to. Thirty years later, meaning today, the Central European region has now become the engine of European growth”, Mr. Szijjártó declared. “This situation did not come about by itself; the people of Central Europe and the countries that represent them had to do a great deal to create this state of affairs”, the Minister said. “Accordingly, the Croatians and the Hungarians can both be proud of the fact that, thanks to their rational economic policies, their countries are among the strong European states”, he continued, adding: “Economic cooperation between the two countries has played a major role in this gaining of strength”. “Hungary is proud of the fact that it is Croatia’s fifth most significant trade partner, and also of the fact that the number one target for Hungarian capital investment remains Croatia to this day”, he declared. “In recent years, the Hungarian economy has also gone through major changes”, he emphasised. “Nine years ago, we were still sitting in the dunce’s seat of Europe, but today we have over five percent economic growth, which is outstanding even at EU level, we have approached full employment, and increasing numbers of Hungarian enterprises are becoming strong enough to now realise major investments abroad”, he stressed. “It is proof of the strengthening of the Hungarian economy that the activities of more and more Hungarian enterprises are becoming regionally and internationally significant”, Mr. Szijjártó added.

The Minister called the biomass power plant Verőce-Dravamente County’s biggest market investment of the past twenty-five years, which has been realised with the participation of one of Hungary’s largest capital investment holdings and with financing from Hungary’s largest bank. “This is not the first energy-related investment project realised by the Arago Group, and will certainly not be its last participation in Croatia”, the Minister said. “Today, we have the pleasure of inaugurating a power plant realised in Croatian-Hungarian cooperation, which will provide electricity to five thousand families, and in which energy is generated in a totally climate-friendly manner and with outstanding efficiency”, Mr. Szijjártó added. He said the investment, which cost 5.7 billion forints (EUR 17 million) clearly incorporates competitiveness and environmental protection criteria. “Instead of generating hysteria and issuing bombastic statements, climate protection requires real and well-founded solutions such as this power plant in Virovitica, which operates with the most modern technology available today”, he underlined. “This is not the only success achieved within Hungarian-Croatian cooperation”, the Minister said, adding: “Within the framework of the Drávaszög Economic Development Programme, the Hungarian government has provided a total of 1.8 billion forints (EUR 5.37 million) in funding to 527 Croatian small and medium-sized enterprises, as a result of which 2.7 billion forints (EUR 8 million) in investment has been realised in Slavonia and Baranya. He explained that in his opinion: “These investment projects are reinforcing both the Hungarian community living here and the Croatian economy”.

In his speech, Croatian Economy Minister Darko Horvat thanked Hungary for standing up for Croatia when the country was in its most difficult situation. “The economy is a priority for the government, and today it is worth investing in Croatia”, he underlined.

(MTI)