I am honoured to welcome you. Good afternoon.
Today is a special day for us. Never before has a president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo visited Hungary, so it is safe to say that President Félix Tshisekedi’s visit is a historic one, and we are grateful to him for that. I say to the Hungarian public that the importance of Africa cannot be overestimated. That continent will play a huge role in the future – in the future of the whole world. It is projected that over the next twenty years Africa’s population will grow by hundreds of millions. We are talking about a huge mass of people that it is difficult for a European mind to imagine. We are talking about rapid growth that is almost incomprehensible to us, because in Europe the opposite is happening. To feed so many people, to provide education, to provide jobs, to organise health care, is an unprecedented challenge for the whole of Africa, and on that continent the Democratic Republic of the Congo plays a particularly important role – even a decisive one.
So we are here to welcome the President of a huge and powerful country – a country that is facing great historic challenges. Hungary believes that we need a comprehensive Africa strategy, a strategy for the development of Africa; we have initiated this in the European Union on several occasions, and we are advocating it now. Of course we will not wait for decisions to be taken in Brussels, because who knows how long we would have to wait for that; but instead we will initiate our own role in this Africa Development Programme. We will take on our share, and this is why today we have decided to launch a comprehensive strategic cooperation programme with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and President Félix Tshisekedi. The plan is for the programme to be based on three pillars: economic, infrastructure and educational. We are not only starting our relations, but we already have a joint representation with the Serbs in Kinshasa, and have already issued a permit for the DRC to open a representation in Budapest. The economic flagship of our cooperation is a major 600-million-dollar road and bridge project linking the DRC with Zambia. This project is Hungarian-led and partly Hungarian-funded. The success of this will – we hope – be the icebreaker, the flagship that will attract other Hungarian businesses.
It is well known that Hungary’s battery production capacity is one of the largest in the world. We are currently the fourth largest producer in the world, and next year we will become the second largest producer. The raw materials for this, particularly cobalt, come from the DRC. So there will also be an opportunity for trilateral cooperation. We are close to an agreement on the modernisation of agriculture, in which we can commit to seed production, dairy processing and food processing; and the President has encouraged us in the field of water management – in which I see that we can also come to an agreement. The Hungarian Hungary Helps Agency has so far implemented a total of twelve development and humanitarian programmes – mostly in social, educational and health areas – valued at around 2 million US dollars. And four years ago we started working with our Congolese friends within the Hungarian state scholarship programme, hosting Congolese students in Hungarian universities.
I would also like to tell the Hungarian public that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is important not only because of its size, not only because of its extremely rich raw material deposits, but also because of its politics. We are talking about a country that is playing a stabilising role in the region. This is something we appreciate, it is why we are cooperating with the DRC in international organisations, and it is also why we support its candidacy for the UN Security Council.
Mr. President,
Once again, before the Hungarian public I offer you my heartfelt thanks for honouring us with your visit.