Speaking before a meeting of OECD ministers in Paris, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said global business leaders are still acting rationally and taking a common-sense approach to the economy and trade, and this is the case in Hungary where companies from the West and East operate plants.
Minister Szijjártó cited the example in Hungary of all three big German car makers operating alongside the three biggest electric battery manufacturers from the East, saying that they enjoyed close cooperation. Noting the serious security challenges and their negative impact on the world economy, Minister Szijjártó said policymaking was going in the direction of forming blocs in the world, which Hungary had always found detrimental, he said, arguing that the coming period should rather be about “connections in the world”, and terms like ‘decoupling’ or ‘de-risking’ should be erased from the international political lexicon. “We want political leaders to stop putting obstacles in the way of civilised East-West cooperation…” he added. Ideology, he said, should not overrule common sense, as this would certainly undermine global security. Minister Szijjártó praised OECD leaders whose election was supported by Hungary, saying they had retained their common sense and refused to allow the organisation to become dominated by politics. “So Hungary supports the strengthening of the OECD…” he said.