The Foreign Minister has pointed out how Germany is Hungary’s most important economic partner and a strategic ally in many areas.
Following talks with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Budapest, Péter Szijjártó said Hungary and Germany are allies in the areas of defense and the economy as well as on the issue of European Union enlargement and developing the regions fled by migrants.
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary was the number-one importer of German arms in the first nine months of 2019, which contributed to the modernization of the Hungarian military as part of its pledge to meet the NATO defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP.
The ministers also touched on the matter of joint international missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo as well as the proposal to create a central European multinational military, which Germany has backed.
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary and Germany are also allies when it comes to developing migrant-fled regions. He noted that Hungary has contributed more than HUF 300 million (EUR 913,000) to Germany’s water management projects in Uganda and the two countries are managing a joint forestry development project in Ethiopia and planning to launch a joint aid scheme in Lebanon.
The minister added that economic and trade ties are also close, noting that Germany was one of Hungary’s most important partners on foreign policy and its top trading partner. He added that bilateral trade turnover was just short of EUR 55 billion last year and this year it has grown by four percent in the first eight months alone.
Minister Szijjártó said that over that same period, Hungarian exports to Germany exceeded EUR 20 billion euros, noting that the 6,000 German-based companies present in Hungary employ some 300,000 people. Several major Germany companies have announced developments this year, the minister said, adding that the government will support them all.
Photo credit: 444.hu