Minister of State Zsolt V. Németh form the Ministry of Agriculture drew attention to the need for agri-environmental farming, and the Director-General of the National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre (NARIC) called for, amongst others, precision farming in the interests of increasing the competitiveness of agriculture, at the second stop in a series of “Agriculture Academy” lectures at the Herman Ottó Institute in Budapest on Thursday.
“Hungary could assist the European integration of Serbia within the areas of legal harmonisation, food safety and agricultural education”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said on Friday in Belgrade following a meeting with representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture.
Hungary’s economic growth rate of 4.1 percent is the highest year-on-year figure in three years. The rate of growth beats prior estimates by international institutions and market analysts by a wide margin, while it is in line with the Ministry’s predictions. Favourable data are the result of the six-year wage agreement concluded in November 2016, tax reductions and rising output in the industrial and construction sectors.
“Hungary has concluded a strategic cooperation agreement in Chongqing with the Bohong Group, one of the world’s largest vehicle exhaust manufacturers”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó informed Hungarian news agency MTI in a telephone statement from China.
Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with leaders of China’s largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and the ICBC-founded Sino-CEE Investment Cooperation Fund in Beijing on Saturday. The profit-oriented capital investment fund plans to invest EUR 10bn in the Central and Eastern European region.
In Beijing on Monday, in a statement to public media summarising his official visit to China, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that the old globalisation model is obsolete, “the East has caught up with the West”, and a large part of the world has had enough of developed countries lecturing it on human rights and the market economy.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén, Hungary is ready to “re-button its waistcoat” with regard to Hungarian-Romanian inter-governmental relations. Mr. Semjén spoke about this In his opening speech at the Congress of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) on Saturday in Zilah (Zalău), speaking also to Chairman of the governing Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea, who was also present at the meeting.
On Monday the Prime Minister’s Press Chief, Bertalan Havasi, told kormany.hu that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Chairman of Fidesz, has sent a letter to Sebastian Kurz congratulating him on his election as the new Chairman of the Austrian People’s Party.
Fitch Rating has left Hungary’s sovereign credit rating unchanged, with stable outlook. In the report that has accompanied the announcement, Fitch predicts accelerating economic growth in Hungary. Expansion is expected to be driven substantially by consumption growth, which will be fuelled by the further decrease in unemployment and rising wages.
During a meeting with representatives of the Venice Commission on 12 May 2017, the Government delegation led by Minister of Justice László Trócsányi explained the contents of the proposed legislation on the transparency of non-governmental organisations point-by-point and according to a strictly legal interpretation.