“In view of the transformation that is going on within the global economy, the Hungarian economy must be moved forward into a new dimension and the previous ‘made in Hungary’ era must be developed into an era of ‘invented in Hungary’”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in Budapest on Thursday at the opening ceremony of an economic conference entitled Labour Shortages on Land, Sea and Air.

Péter Szijjártó stressed: During negotiations with large corporations the main topics of discussion are no longer the tax system or infrastructure; instead, what companies what to know is whether Hungary can provide them with a large enough, high quality workforce. According to the Minister, the greatest challenge facing Hungary’s economic policy is the question of labour, and this is a problem that the Government must solve if it wants to maintain and increase the economy’s current level of growth.

With regard to Government measures introduced to resolve the situation, Mr. Szijjártó mentioned four fundamental pillars: attracting major brands, the digital development realised in Hungary, the expansion of the vocational training system and facilitating workforce mobility.

The Minister recalled that in January the Government had concluded successful negotiations with BlackRock, one of the world’s largest fund management companies, thanks to which the corporation will be setting up its innovation centre in Budapest with the creation of 500 new jobs.

According to Mr. Szijjártó, providing financial support for investments by major brands is the primary instrument for enticing highly-trained Hungarians working abroad to return home. He underpinned this by telling reporters that following the conclusion of the agreement, the company organised a job fair in London in cooperation with the Hungarian Embassy at which within the space of two hours 100 Hungarians living and working in the UK indicated that they would like to come home to Hungary to work for the company.

Hungary is already ahead of the European Union when it comes to digital developments in view of the fact that by 2018 one-hundred percent of the country will have access to 30 megabit/second internet services, and by 2020 practically the whole country will be able to enjoy 100MB/s internet access.

On Brexit and the triggering of Article 50, Mr. Szijjártó said that Hungary’s standpoint is that the European Union should step out of the dogmatic framework of a hard Brexit or soft Brexit; Brexit must be fair.

“If the European Union wants to punish Great Britain at the negotiations and wants to establish an agreement that is based on an intent to punish, then the EU will lose as a result. There is a realistic danger that if the exit negotiations do not result in the closest possible trade, economic and investment cooperation with the UK, then third parties will immediately be able to conclude free trade agreements with the British following Brexit”, the Minister explained. “At the negotiations Hungary will also be placing heavy emphasis on guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens working in Great Britain”, he added.

Great Britain’s Ambassador to Hungary Iain Lindsay said: “The citizens of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union on 23 June last year, but this decision does not mean the rejection of common European values and is not aimed at harming the EU”. With relation to this the Ambassador recalled the speech given by British Prime Minister Theresa May in Parliament on Wednesday: The referendum was a vote to restore the United Kingdom’s national self-determination. The conference was organised by the HG Media Group.

(MTI)