Central Europe is a promising region in terms of investment for India, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in New Delhi on Thursday.

Hungary is asking India to “put Central Europe on their map”, the Prime Minister said in his presentation entitled Hungary and Europe in a changing world, held at Sapru House, India’s foreign policy institute. Viktor Orbán said Central Europe, including Hungary, offers promising opportunities with Europe's largest growth potential; moreover, the region is over the crisis, it has successfully undergone renewal.

The Prime Minister also noted that a global transformation is taking place to an unprecedented degree, in which new power centres are emerging within the world economy, adding that India is a leading power in this change, thanks to its spectacular growth. The Hungarian Prime Minister informed his audience about Hungarian politics and the economy, including the “unorthodox” measures introduced by the government.

He mentioned that the budget deficit was being kept below 3 percent of GDP, public debt was declining, personal income tax was reduced to 16 percent and the size of Parliament would be halved as of 2014. In response to a question regarding the relationship between the EU and its member states, he said many within the EU think that too many questions are decided at a community level rather than at national level.

Viktor Orbán was received in New Delhi with military honours by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The two heads of government laid a wreath together at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. The Hungarian Prime Minister then paid a visit to India's President Pranab Mukherjee in the company of Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga, Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó. The official programme continues with a Hungarian-Indian business forum, where the Prime Minister said that over 85 percent of Hungarian exports go to the European Union.

The Prime Minister said the share of non-European markets in Hungarian sales had increased from 8 percent three years ago to 12 percent now, and should achieve 33 percent by 2018. Strong Hungarian-Indian economic ties are indispensable for attaining this target, the Prime Minister concluded. Prime Minister Orbán mentioned the construction industry, the energy sector, water and waste management, IT and biotechnology among possible fields of Hungarian-Indian economic cooperation.

(Prime Minister’s Office/ International Communications Office)