Hungarian-German relations have always been excellent and it is particularly so since the regime change. Hungary often regarded Germany as an example in terms of its political and economic structure, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó at an event of the German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DUIHK) on Thursday in Budapest.
He underscored that the chamber prepares a conjuncture report each year, from which Hungary learns a lot about the state of the economic environment and it is used as an important compass by Hungarian economic policy. He added that we relied upon German examples many times when making strategic decisions aiming at the renewal of Hungary since 2010.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, German companies investing here also have an important role in that Hungary’s economy embarked on a stable growth trajectory this year, since Germany is the biggest foreign investor in Hungary, accounting for one fourth (approximately EUR 20 billion) of Hungary’s total working capital. In Hungary, 6,000 German companies have 300,000 employees.
Germany accounts for 25% of Hungary’s foreign trade turnover, 26% of the total Hungarian exports go to Germany, and exports in the first part of this year increased by 14%, explained the minister.
Citing from the conjuncture report of DUIHK, he emphasized that 27% of the German companies are planning to invest more this year than last year, 29% of them will also increase the number of employees and these ratios are even higher in the processing industry and the export-oriented sectors.
Péter Szijjártó presented the three main objectives of Hungary’s economic and foreign trade strategy, i.e. Hungary aspires to have the greatest contribution of industry to the output of the national economy within the European Union, the highest export to GDP ratio among the EU member states, and the highest ratio of per capita direct working capital in Central Europe.
The minister also mentioned that in order to ensure adequate labour supply for the investments, Hungary has reshaped vocational training based on German example over the past few years. He stated that during the new seven-year budget period of the EU the government intends to spend HUF 50 billion on establishing more than 7,000 vocational training centres. Also in the new budget period, the government will spend HUF 706 billion on Research & Development and innovation, in line with the strategic goals of Hungary becoming a European centre of production and attracting further research and development potential.
Péter Szijjártó also said that the government would continue to conclude strategic cooperation agreements, adding that there are already nine German companies among our strategic partners. At the event DUIHK and the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) signed a cooperation agreement with a view to developing Hungarian-German economic relations by expanding the production and development activities of Hungary-based German-owned companies and by increasing the number of Hungarian suppliers, among others.