PM Orbán: Central Europe to emerge from crisis faster than rest of continent

The countries of central Europe are emerging faster from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic than the rest of the continent because they have a strategy, have preserved jobs and have pursued developments without reducing their capacities, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Celje on Wednesday.

Addressing the opening of the 53rd Celje International Trade Fair, Orbán said the timing of central Europe’s recovery “couldn’t be better”, arguing that the global economy was on the brink of a new era of which both Hungary and Slovenia could be winners. Hungary is prepared to continue its “fruitful cooperation” with Slovenia, he said, adding that a total of 26 Hungarian companies were represented at the fair.

Orbán said cooperation between Hungary and Slovenia was more effective now than at any other time in the past.

“The pandemic has turned our lives upside down,” he said. “It caused not only a health crisis but also a serious economic one.”

An estimated 114 million jobs have been lost to the crisis worldwide, investments plunged by 42 percent and the global trade volume is down by more than 5 percent, Orbán said. Also, hundreds of factories have had to be shut down, major multinational corporations have been forced to reduce their capacities, he added, noting that the crisis had forced fundamental changes in all segments of the global economy.

The prime minister said the

beginning of the new era of the global economy

would involve fierce competition for the redistribution of production capacities. Factories, he argued, were not being reopened in the same countries where they had closed.

Investors are looking for new and promising destinations, he said, adding that Hungary was also in the race to attract them. The countries and regions that held their own during the crisis were the ones best positioned in the competition for investments, Orbán said. Hungary and Slovenia are two of these countries, he added.