Orbán: Hungarian government ‘among most stable’ in Europe

Hungary’s government is “one of the most stable” cabinets in Europe, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told a Hungarian-Turkish business forum in Budapest on Tuesday.

The forum, organised by the National Trading House of Hungary, was attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In his address, Orbán praised Turkey for having a stable governmental system and a “leader with a strong legitimacy”, and voiced hope that a “cooperation between stable governments will lead to success”.

Concerning the Hungarian economy, Orbán called for “radical improvements” in terms of the country’s competitiveness

and said that the government would soon adopt an action plan to that end.

On another subject, Orbán said that the Western world was dominated by “a sense of uncertainty” which was “trying” for politicians and the business community and insisted that “everybody in Europe wants security and predictability”. The Hungarian government, he said, seeks to ensure those two conditions through applying a model based on job creation, tax cuts and pay hikes. He added that Hungary had a stable economic growth and full employment was very close.

Referring Turkish businesses in Hungary, Orbán said that they provided jobs to over 1,000 people, while 8 major projects with Turkish involvement were being negotiated. Those projects could result in investment totalling 500 million dollars, he added.

Orbán also announced that Hungary would offer 150 scholarships to Turkish students.

Foreign Minister Péter  Szijjártó said at the forum that Turkey was Hungary’s “number one” trading partner in its region and noted a record turnover in bilateral trade last year.

In his address to the forum, Erdogan called for strengthening Turkish-Hungarian ties.

Relations are already robust, he said, thanking the Hungary for “tending carefully to the countries’ shared historic heritage”. He pledged to support raising trade relations to a higher level.

He cited tourism, transport and local projects in Africa as areas of cooperation. Trade between Hungary and Turkey reached 2.6 billion dollars in 2017, he said, and reached 1.8 billion already in 2018, representing 8 percent annual increase. The aim is to raise annual trade to 6 billion dollars, he noted.

The education, construction and energy sectors are promising areas of cooperation, and it should also be strengthened between financial institutions, he said.

Featured image: MTI