Foreign minister: Hungary, Croatia should further boost economic cooperation

Economic cooperation between Hungary and Croatia benefits both countries overall, but there are areas where ties could be further boosted, the foreign minister said in Zagreb on Monday.

Péter Szijjártó, who is accompanying Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on an official visit to Croatia, said that trade between the two countries exceeded 2 billion euros last year, noting the 420 million euro credit line opened by Eximbank to help Hungarian businesses boost their investments in Croatia.

Szijjártó said the government’s 500 million forint funding allocated annually to northern Croatia’s Drávaszög economic development scheme over the last two years has been increased to 1 billion (EUR 3.1m) for 2019.

It will support farm and enterprise development projects, he said.

With the acquisition of a Croatian bank, Hungary’s leading OTP would soon become the fourth largest financial player in Croatia, he said.

Szijjártó said he proposed increasing the number of border crossing points from the current seven to boost both countries’ competitiveness.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI