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Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Governor and the CEO. I visited them two years ago, and now they are returning the Government’s visit. As the agreements show, over the past two years we have been working hard. Thank you both very much for your partnership and cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This agreement with the BYD factory means that the cars of the future will also be produced in Hungary. All Hungarians remember that in 1990 we successfully joined the world car industry. We have created a secure industrial and technological basis – and perhaps I should also thank the engineers and factory workers who have created these secure industrial foundations over the past thirty years. The fact that Hungarian car manufacturing can now enter the next phase is thanks to the Hungarian engineers and Hungarian workers who, through their work, have created this foundation of trust.
But that is the past, off which one cannot live. Now we must talk about the future – and now we are living through a time in which one era is being changed for another. New technologies, new customer needs and new manufacturers have emerged, and we Hungarians do not want to be left out of this new era. We have taken a strategic decision, which is that Hungarian industry must be involved in electromobility. This is also a way of saying that this strategic decision will not be affected by market, short-term and cyclical influences. When introducing a new technology there are always ups and downs, and you have to ride those out. The important thing is to know that this is the future, and that Hungary must not be left out of this future. Entering a new technological era through electromobility would be unthinkable for Hungary on its own: for this we need partners. And we can only enter this new era if there is Sino–Hungarian strategic cooperation, because in this industry China is the technology leader.
We all know, Honourable Governor, that Hungarian–Chinese relations go back seventy-six years. This is a very long relationship, but we are currently living through its most intense period. We established the China–Central Europe cooperation with the economic ministers here in Budapest sometime in 2010–11; and Hungary joined the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, and has not left it – unlike a number of other European countries. I would remind those in attendance here that when he visited Budapest, President Xi invited Hungary to participate in the modernisation of the Chinese economy – and in doing so offered us economic opportunities. We said “yes”.
Logically it follows that Hungary is today pursuing a connectivity strategy in the world economy and in world trade, and we have close and pragmatic relations with all the world’s political power centres. For the Hungarian economy to achieve its goals, we need to maintain and develop our relations with China at a strategic level. With this connectivity strategy we are both modernising the Hungarian economy and making it resilient. Our aim is to make Hungary a meeting point for Western and Eastern investment, for capital flows, technology and trade.
In the last ten years the value of our trade has doubled, with China being one of our top three investors, along with the US and Germany. There have been years when China was the biggest investor in Hungary. More precisely, there are years when China is the biggest investor in Hungary. This means that Chinese investment in Hungary has become an important – even indispensable – engine of economic growth. I have always believed that this would be the case. We are working together with China on giant infrastructure projects that will help East–West cooperation, economic cooperation: the Budapest–Belgrade railway line will be launched soon; we will soon start work on the V0 rail ring; and construction of the oil pipeline linking Serbia with Hungary will soon begin. You all know that China is also playing an important role in financing major Hungarian modernisation projects.
I must talk about our place in the European Union. Here, too, I would like to say that we have always opposed EU tariffs against China. We too urge the European Union to lift these tariffs. We believe that we need to return to economic cooperation based on mutual respect, and we look forward to opening new chapters of EU cooperation with China. We are convinced that the future of Europe lies not in confrontation, but in partnership. Our aim is that foreign investors will also bring development capacity to Hungary – not only manufacturing capacity, but also development capacity. Our vision has always been that first the factories arrive, then the development centres of the factories arrive, and finally the research centres arrive. It will not work the other way round. First production, then development, then research. This is why today’s meeting and agreement is of great importance, because BYD is now opening a new era, bringing its development centre to Hungary: not just building a factory, but bringing its development centre here. And this shows that the plan – our grand plan – is working. I would like to remind everyone that before BYD, companies such as Audi, Apollo Tyres, Bosch, Continental, Knorr–Bremse, Mercedes, Samsung, Schaeffler, SEGA, Stellantis and ZF brought their research and development centres to Hungary. Before BYD, there were already thousands of highly qualified engineers working in these centres. But now BYD represents a qualitative leap, because for the BYD centre alone, 2,000 new jobs will be created, 2,000 new employees will be needed – most of them highly-qualified graduates with backgrounds predominantly in engineering. And I am sure that after BYD, there will be other players. Fine work.
Thank you for your attention.
