President Katalin Novák discussed the Western world’s demographic crisis with Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the electric carmaker’s plant in Austin, Texas, on Monday. Musk greeted Novák with one of his sons before holding private talks with the president. “Elon Musk could not make it to the Budapest Demographic Summit in the end. We are making up for the meeting now,” Novák said on Facebook. She began the meeting by saying that the demographic crisis was not getting enough attention relative to climate change.
Vajk Farkas, communications director of the presidential Sándor Palace, told public media that one of the main aims of Novák’s US visit was to meet with allies in tackling demographic challenges. These, he said, included Musk, Texas Governor Greg Abott and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte. Musk has voiced his views on global demographic challenges on multiple occasions recently, saying that “population collapse” was a bigger threat than climate change. He has also recently met other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. Novák wrapped up her visit in Utah on Tuesday, meeting Governor Spencer Cox.