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Foreign minister praises Hungary's strategy of opening up to the East

Péter Szijjártó said Hungary was a winner of shifts in the global economy thanks to its Eastern Opening strategy.

The foreign minister has praised Hungary's strategy of opening up to the East launched ten years ago.

Addressing a Kyrgyz-Hungarian business forum in the Kyrgyz capital, Péter Szijjártó said Hungary was a winner of shifts in the global economy thanks to its Eastern Opening strategy.

The minister said many people had shown contempt for the strategy, which they contended would alienate the country from the western alliance. However, it had since become clear that “our western friends only criticized us because they did not want to see us as rivals on Central Asian markets”.

Minister Szijjártó said 81 percent of global investments were from the West and 17 percent from the East in 2007, the latter reached 58 percent last year against 40 percent for the former. In Hungary, 60 percent of investments are from the East, which has also provided 40 percent of new jobs.

Photo credit: dailynewshungary.hu