Márton Nagy, National Economy Minister, met with Nadia Calvino, the president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), at his office in Budapest on Wednesday.
The National Economy Ministry said in a statement that the sides discussed the EIB's lending activity in Hungary and the state of the international economy. The talks also touched on financing industrial parks and railway infrastructure investments.
Minister Nagy acknowledged the bank's role in financing big local investments to support healthcare, education, the green transition, transport and energy infrastructure and areas of innovation.
He said the EIB could significantly finance investments that would improve the European Union's competitiveness. He added that the EU was behind compared to the scale of fiscal resources that the United States and China were ploughing into their economies to boost competitiveness.
Minister Nagy said the government aimed to see the EIB's lending activity in Hungary reach an annual EUR 1bn and extend to areas such as the defence and nuclear energy industries.