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The Hungarian Prime Minister highlighted that never before had a President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo been to Hungary, and so Mr Félix Tshisekedi’s visit could be described as of historic significance. We cannot overestimate the importance of Africa, this continent will play an enormous role in the future, in the future of the whole world, he stressed, adding that according to projections, in the next twenty years, the population of Africa will increase by many hundreds of millions.
This is an enormous population mass that is difficult to conceive of in the European mind as Europe’s population is declining. Providing care, education, jobs and health care for this many people is an unprecedented challenge for Africa, he stated. In Mr Orbán’s words, the Democratic Republic of the Congo plays a determining role in Africa. We welcome here the president of an enormous country which is facing major historical challenges, he said.
He added that in Hungary’s view, we need a comprehensive Africa development strategy, we have already initiated the development of such a strategy in the EU several times, and we continue to stand for this. However, rather than waiting for decisions to be made in Brussels, we will start our own share in this development programme, he said. By Mr Orbán’s account, on Monday they agreed with Mr Tshisekedi to launch a comprehensive strategic cooperation programme which will be based on economic, infrastructure development and educational pillars.
He also recalled that Hungarian-Congolese relations had started some time ago. Hungary has a joint foreign representation with Serbia in Kinshasa, and permission has been granted for the opening of a Congolese representation in Budapest.
He mentioned the Hungarian-led and partly Hungarian-financed road and bridge construction project worth USD 600 million which will connect the Congo with Zambia as “the economic flagship” of Hungarian-Congolese cooperation.
Hungary has one of the world’s largest battery manufacturing capabilities, the Prime Minister pointed out, highlighting that while at present we are the world’s fourth largest manufacturer, next year we will advance to second place. The raw materials necessary for this, in particular, cobalt come from the Congo, and so in this field there will also be scope for trilateral cooperation, he observed. We are close to an agreement on the modernisation of agriculture; in this Hungary is able to play a part in the production of sowing seeds, the dairy industry and food processing, Mr Orbán said, adding that as expected, the two countries will also be able to come to an agreement on the issue of water management.
He recalled that the Hungary Helps agency had conducted twelve development and humanitarian programmes in the Congo, also mentioning that Hungarian universities have received students from the Congo with Hungarian state scholarships for four years now.
Mr Orbán pointed out that the Democratic Republic of the Congo was important not only because of its size and its extremely rich raw material deposits, but also because of its policies and the stabilising role it plays in the region. Hungary very much appreciates this, and therefore cooperates with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in international organisations and supports the nomination of the Congo into the UN Security Council, Mr Orbán stated.
