Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó took part in the World Economic Forum in Switzerland for the first time, where he emphasized cooperation between East and West. According to him, this is also in Hungary's economic and national security interest. They listened to his words with astonishment, especially when he spoke about how, while in political communication they talk about a strong separation, the reality is that there is a very strong connection between them. The conversation immediately started with a change of blades, when they asked whether the government wants to accept the alleged curtailment of freedoms, the Hungarian political model, that Hungary becomes unavoidable in the European car industry. The Hungarian minister also spoke to CNBC.
Davos is a bit like the UN General Assembly, several meetings can be held in a relatively short time, so in addition to the interviews, there was also time for six company leaders and three foreign minister colleagues, Péter Szijjártó wrote on his social media page about the World Economic Forum in Davos. He added: Ignazio Cassis from Switzerland and Ilia Darchiashvili with their Georgian colleagues basically discussed their countries' cooperation with the European Union.
"Confrontation between geopolitical blocs is always bad for those who are located geographically between two blocs," said Péter Szijjártó in Deglobalization or reglobalization? panel discussion and gave the Cold War as an example. According to him, it is crucial to maintain communication between the parties, because from the point of view of the Central European region, the next period could be much worse than the Cold War.
Regarding the American-Chinese conflict, he said that there are definite efforts on the part of politics to separate the Western economy from China, but in physical reality, in the private sector, there is no sign of this, in fact, the opposite process is visible. He brought up Hungary as an example, which, as a meeting point of Western and Eastern companies, has become an extremely important player in the electric car industry. He then highlighted that seven of the world's ten largest electric battery manufacturers are Chinese, and their products are also in great demand by Western car brands.
We are the only connection point, besides Germany and China, where the three top German car manufacturers have or will have factories. Western European factories call me to bring as many Chinese suppliers, electric battery manufacturers and component manufacturers to Hungary as possible, so that they can be as close as possible to them, because this is the secret and key to success. So, while I see a strong separation on a physical and political level, in reality there is a very strong connection - underlined Péter Szijjártó.
The Hungarian politician's statement to CNBC can be viewed below.
Based on the Pesti Srácok article.
Image: Facebook
