In his address at the Belt and Road Initiative summit in Beijing, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán talked about a decline in the Western world and Europe’s competitiveness, the importance of connectivity, and Hungary as a meeting point of Eastern and Western economies.
PM Orbán said the era of the Western world holding an advantage was over, with the East having gained in strength. He said the European dilemma was whether to create blocs in the global economy and compete, while acting as protectionists or to seek opportunities for cooperation and connectivity. He also said that Europe had cut cooperation with Russia and this was a big step towards the development of blocs. Currently, there are efforts to go even further with discussions of decoupling and de-risking, which would result in the isolation of European and Chinese economies, he added. Supporters of connectivity including Hungary reject the policy of creating blocs, he said. Central Europe suffered for decades from the existence of blocs which was “not good, illogical and inhuman”, he said. Hungary’s goal is to become the meeting point for eastern and western economies and technologies, he said. The most important Eastern and Western investors for the new era of technology meet in Hungary today, he added.