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SZIJJÁRTÓ: ECONOMY STRONGEST PILLAR OF HUNGARY-US TIES

Economic cooperation is currently the strongest pillar of Hungarian-US relations, and Hungary is counting on US companies to bolster ties between the two countries, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Budapest on Monday.
 

Speaking at a business forum organised by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham), Péter Szijjártó said the war in Ukraine had put an end to hopes of a calmer period after the coronavirus pandemic. Although the war itself is a regional conflict, Europe is paying the price for it in “skyrocketing inflation, high food and energy prices and falling competitiveness”. “Europe’s decision to compete with a leading military power, the United States, in providing defence aid to Ukraine, was a big mistake,” Szijjártó said.
US companies are the second largest group of investors in Hungary, with 1,700 companies employing some 107,000 people, and bilateral trade jumped by 16% to record highs in 2022, he added. Hungary’s government has supported 103 US investments in Hungary, with a total of some 2 billion dollars, over the last eight years, and is in talks with a further eight, he said. Szijjártó also touched on the agreement against double taxation, and welcomed US Republican pledges to reinstate it, should they come to power at the next elections.