Under the present circumstances turning inwards is the worst possible response which we may give to the challenges we are facing, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at the conference Dialogue Between China and the Central-Eastern-European Political Parties held in Budapest on Thursday.

In his speech the Minister stressed: it would be much easier for Europe to face challenges if it were more open to building external partnerships and alliances.

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Central-European countries have always held the reasonable view that there is a need for cooperation with China, and the region’s cooperation with the Asian country also serves the best interests of the whole of Europe, Mr Szijjártó pointed out.

He said: „we are living in very exciting times” because not only the EU, but the Western Balkans region, too, is facing the historic challenges posed by migration, and the solution of our economic problems is not facilitated by the decision of the Brits to leave the EU. He mentioned the war in Ukraine, the issue of energy security, and relations between the EU and Russia as further challenges.

He took the view that in this situation turning inwards is not the solution, but in actual fact we must enhance our efforts to build relations with external partners. Central-European countries have always stressed the importance of strategic alliances with other regions and countries, he reiterated. He added: the EU itself has acknowledged recently that cooperation between Central-Europe and China is also beneficial for the EU.

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The Foreign Minister further said that world economic and trade trends are characterised by the conclusion of free trade agreements and the development of regional cooperation schemes, and if the EU is left out of these cooperation schemes, that will have a detrimental impact on its competitiveness.

Mr Szijjártó believes that the Central-European economies are highly open, and they have a vested interest in developing dynamically growing cooperation with China. They must therefore make joint efforts to preserve their right to build relations with external partners, he said.

The Minister further told journalists that by virtue of their decision to leave the EU, the Brits have lost some of their competitiveness in respect of investments coming from outside the EU as a great many businesses from remote parts of the world, in particular, from the Far-East seek headquarters in Europe within the European Union.

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As he said, „quite obviously, our Western-European friends our not happy when China renders its cooperation with Central-Europe closer” as we are in competition with Western-Europe inasmuch as the countries Chinese investments choose as their destination.

Mr Szijjártó said: the financing by China of Central-European infrastructure projects is also a European interest because the EU allocated less funds for this purpose.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)