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FM: Railways vital for growth of Hungarian economy

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has welcomed the launch of a joint company producing control and signalling equipment by Hungary’s V-Híd Épitő and Czech market-leader AZD Praha.

The foreign minister has underlined the importance of rail transport and haulage which, he says, are vitally important for the growth of the Hungarian economy.

On Thursday, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, welcomed the launch of a joint company producing control and signalling equipment by Hungary’s V-Híd Épitő and Czech market-leader AZD Praha. The establishment of the Hungarian majority-owned JV V4SIL will not only create jobs but will also guarantee the future supply of skilled workers, he said. Minister Szijjártó said that among the lessons to be learnt from the series of crises that typified recent years is the growing value of rail transport and haulage. During the coronavirus pandemic, supply chains often broke down, but the railways “proved to be crisis-proof”, he added. The events of the recent period also demonstrated the extent to which vulnerable countries that were unable to keep their critical infrastructure under their own control had become, he said. He also noted the railways’ favorable environmental aspects, adding that “if we’re able to transfer a large part of transport to railways, then we’ll be able to cut down a significant source of environmental pollution.”