Hungary’s economy is ready for a new paradigm shift towards broadening research and development and boosting its technological level, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday after meeting senior Microsoft executives. 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 taken in the past 14 years, with constant new records 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. At the meeting, the officials assessed the European Union’s competitiveness challenges, and they were in agreement that various regulatory changes were needed in Brussels to ensure the bloc’s competitiveness, the minister said.