Europe-China economic cooperation must remain unharmed

Hungary rejects all proposals that would fracture economic cooperation between the European Union and China, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Thursday, arguing that such a development would have a “tragic impact”.

Though the world is on the brink of a new era and there is a lot of uncertainty, what is certain is that the revolution of the auto industry is moving forward, the foreign ministry cited Szijjártó as saying at the second Hungarian Battery Day conference.

The auto industry accounts for 30 percent of Hungary’s economic output, Szijjártó said, adding that this presented the country with a lot of tasks but also “a huge opportunity”.

The minister said the European economy was “moving towards a big recession” and the Hungarian government’s goal was for Hungary to be a “local exception” to the economic downturn.

This, he said, required Hungary to attract as many investments as possible. He highlighted electromobility as an area with a lot of potential, noting that the government had supported 44 investment projects in this sector in the last five years.

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The Hungarian government has made it very clear since 2010 that its strategy is to be “the meeting point between Western and Eastern investors, the Western and Eastern economy”, he said.

Szijjártó noted that Hungary was the only country besides Germany and China to have plants from all three big German premium car makers. Hungary also has the third biggest electric battery production capacity in the world and ranks fifth in the export of EV batteries, he added.