As Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said, the economy ministers of the Visegrád countries (V4) held negotiations on European Union issues and surveyed crisis management experiences as well as cooperation options for small and medium-sized enterprises at the press conference after their Budapest meeting.

The Minister explained that such proposals had been tabled at the EU’s Competitiveness Council which would significantly dent the competitiveness and employment prospects of the V4 countries, among them – for example – the abolishing of the customs duty on monitors and the proposal on bio-fuels. Therefore, the ministers agreed to present a united front at the next Council meeting.

In the opinion of Mihály Varga, the key conclusion of the talks is that although certain crisis management tools may differ in the various countries, but top objectives and priorities are the same in the Visegrád countries.
One central topic of the meeting was the strengthening of relations between SMEs of the countries, as in each state within the bloc these enterprises employ the majority of labour force, some two-thirds of total, the Minister pointed out. He also added that the Visegrád Four are eager to facilitate the common presence of these enterprises on the markets of third countries. To this end, the participants decided on opening joint economic representative offices designed to serve the common interests of the V4 in these third countries. Experts will assess in the coming month in which country or region the first such office should be established.

The meeting’s participants also agreed that the V4 economy ministries and ministers will establish close relations in order to efficiently exploit the opportunities of the common foreign economic strategy. All efforts are aimed at improving the region’s competitiveness and that requires better coordination in joint tenders and projects.

Slovakia’s Economy Minister Tomás Malatinsky said that participants of the session have agreed that after a period of making declarations it is high time to enter a more active phase in the field of economic partnership, as closer cooperation may be the right remedy for the region’s economic situation.

Minister of State Jerzy Witold Pietrewicz of Poland’s Economy Ministry said that although the countries of the region have been applying similar cures to similar economic ills and challenges, each country also has a unique set of solutions which the others keep observing. He added that the Budapest meeting has turned the focus, yet again, on how crucial partnership within the V4 is and how important it is to enter third country markets together and to formulate joint declarations at EU forums.

Deputy Minister Ing Milan Hovorka of the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Industry and Trade stressed that the countries of the region have been facing similar challenges in the field of economic growth, competitiveness and job creation. A great achievement of this meeting is that participants declared they do not only want to talk about problems, but they are determined to seek opportunities which may help in learning from each other and to better coordinate their standpoints in Brussels.

(Ministry for National Economy)