Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó called Hungary one of the flagships of Europe’s automotive industry on Sunday, noting that the sector’s production value is expected to increase to record levels this year, exceeding 8000 billion forints (EUR 26.2bn).
At the event held at Hungary’s Formula One race track Hungaroring, one of Eastern Hungary’s largest logistics service providers and freight carrier enterprises, the Révész Group, and Dutch truck manufacturing company DAF announced that the road haulage company will be procuring 370 new DAF trucks. Owner of the Révész Group Bálint Révész was presented with an ignition key representing the 370 heavy goods vehicles.
According to the Minister, the announcement is also an indication of the Hungarian economy’s development potential in view of the fact that one of the economy’s most important questions is how products get from “A” to “B”, and this requires logistics companies and infrastructure. “If a country’s logistics capabilities increase, it is also an indication of the existence of major expansion prospects”, he added.
With reference to the diplomatic dispute with Holland, Mr. Szijjártó said he wasn’t worried that the foreign affairs disputes would endanger economic cooperation with an important European country, as also exemplified by today’s announcement. In reply to a question, the Hungarian Foreign Minister repeated: on Friday he received a telephone call from the Dutch Foreign Minister, who disassociated himself from the negative comments about Hungary made by the outgoing Dutch Ambassador and stressed that those in no way mirror the standpoint of the Dutch Government, adding that he had accepted the disassociation and on Monday would be consulting with Hungary’s Ambassador to the Hague, who had been ordered home, to enable the necessary decisions to be made more rapidly.
(MTI)
