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SZIJJÁRTÓ URGES PRAGMATIC TIES WITH EAST

 

Cutting trade cooperation between the European Union and China for ideological reasons would only deepen the economic crisis, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade said, underlining the need to maintain pragmatic relations.
Whether or not Europe can overcome the current period of serious challenges will mainly depend on whether decision-makers will be capable of “acting on the basis of common sense”, Péter Szijjártó said after meeting OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann in Paris on Monday. If decisions on economic policy remain ideologically driven then the world and Europe will not be able to overcome the challenges, the minister said. “Common sense is needed to put the global economic crisis behind us,” he added. Szijjártó welcomed that the OECD and its secretary general “are one of the few organisations and leaders in the world that aren’t trapped by ideology” but instead pursue “rational and realistic economic policies based on common sense”. He said recovery from the current crisis would depend greatly on whether “the ideological approach aimed at cutting cooperation between the EU and China will be successful”. Europe has a fundamental interest in maintaining pragmatic and mutually beneficial economic cooperation with China, he added.