Senior Microsoft executives visits Hungary – UPDATE

Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday after meeting senior Microsoft executives that Hungary’s economy is ready for a paradigm shift towards broadening research and development and boosting its technological level.

In a post on Facebook, Szijjártó thanked the executives for Microsoft’s activities in Hungary and for providing high-level job opportunities for more than one hundred people.

He referred to the “vast strides” Hungary’s economy had made in the past 14 years, with new records being broken in investment, exports, and employment.

Szijjártó said the next level of development would entail speeding up digitalisation, increasing the workforce in technology-related areas, and improving training, adding that in these endeavours Hungary counted on Microsoft as a strategic partner.

The minister said that at the meeting, the officials assessed the European Union’s competitiveness challenges and agreed that various regulatory changes were needed in Brussels to ensure the bloc’s competitiveness.

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UPDATE

National economy minister meets Microsoft executives

Márton Nagy, the national economy minister, met with Microsoft executives in Budapest on Tuesday, including Robert Ivanschitz, the company’s Associate General Counsel for Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMA).

According to a statement by Nagy’s ministry, the main topics of the meeting were Hungary’s plans when it takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of the year, regulatory issues surrounding artificial intelligence, and the possibilities of using AI in the public sector.

The sides were in agreement that the use of advanced technologies like 5G, Big Data and AI have become the most important “breakout points” for the world’s economies.

Nagy said regarding the regulation of AI that for the government AI is primarily a matter of competitiveness. Regulations that support European businesses and developments and reduce the exposure of SMEs are needed, he added. The minister said the acceptable approach was one that protects individuals and institutions but doesn’t limit technological development or needlessly increase red tape and provides member states enough room for manoeuvre.

That was why, he said, European autonomy and sovereignty needed to be strengthened in the field of AI as well, and called for supporting national language models.

The digital economy accounts for 25 percent of Hungary’s GDP, Nagy said, noting that the government’s goal was for Hungary to be among the EU’s ten most digitally advanced countries by 2030.

By making efficient use of the opportunities offered by new technologies and thereby gaining a competitive advantage on the market, Hungarian economic players contribute in a meaningful way to the government’s endeavour to restart the economy this year and further increase its pace of growth in 2025, the minister said.