17 February 2014, Budapest
A Turkish-Hungarian business forum is always a special occasion. There are a few compulsory things that we must mention at such times. And I will get to these in a moment. Figures, development and similar. But although figures, development and cooperation with relation to two different countries could be the subject of a lecture in itself, the Turkish-Hungarian relationship is special. We always go to Turkey with excitement and high expectations, and our guests arrive here in a similar spirit, that other things will also happen to us in addition to the usual diplomatic meetings. The President of the Republic was kind enough to do me the honour of giving me the opportunity to have lunch together today, and he was also kind enough to afterwards visit the room in which we hold our cabinet meetings, which is called the Munkácsy Room, because of the huge painting hanging on the wall there, the most famous Hungarian painting, the work of Munkácsy. The Hungarian tribes, lead by Árpád, arrive in the Carpathian Basin 1100 years ago. The painting is of course a little stylised; we look very good in it, the people on the painting, and they seem to be happy to see us, although one cannot be sure, but the point is that we noticed with President Gül that the clothing of the army that is marching into the country behind Árpád is not unknown to our Turkish friends. One can even see horse-tailed banners in the corner of the painting, and even Árpád himself looks as if he has just stepped out of a Turkish novel.
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is what provides a special mood to Turkish-Hungarian visits and business forums. The people talking to each other are not strangers, the people in negotiation are not strangers and the people trying to conclude a business deal are not strangers. And of course in the modern world, in which many believe that money, profit, turnover and things of a similar nature are paramount, we tend to underestimate the significance of this cultural fact. And we shouldn't. Because without trust there is no business deal, and there is no trust without knowing the other; there is no trust if we do not recognise ourselves at least a little in the other, and one cannot plan for the long term if we do not feel that cooperating with us is also important to the other party. This is of special significance from a Hungarian perspective with regard to business cooperation with Turkey, because Turkey is after all a huge economy. And in addition, no matter what quarrels there may be about where Turkey belongs – and I am now regarding the country as being part of the western world, or I might say I am regarding is as belonging to the area of transatlantic cooperation – Turkey is the most dynamically developing giant economy within this region. And there are also no arguments about the fact that this economy is not only a giant, and is not simply developing in a sustainable manner, but is also a predictable economy. And here we have moved on from the economy and entered the realms of politics.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
What makes a country predictable? A whole library's worth of literature has been published on this topic. Various theories exist. But our profession is one of a practical nature rather than theoretical. What makes Turkey stable? What makes Hungary stable? What makes Turkey strong and what, although perhaps to a different order of magnitude, will enable Hungary to be strong?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Turkey has leaders who do not want to explain what it is they cannot help. They do not want to convince their voters that they are not actually responsible for the bad things, but instead Turkey has leaders, and this can be clearly seen from the election manifestos they have published, who may be regarded as courageous and who take responsibility for leading and managing the country. Turkey has a political leadership, with the President of the Republic at the helm, who dares to set objectives for its own people and doesn't beat around the bush and say perhaps this way or perhaps that way, but instead determines the objectives, determines the available tools and then does its utmost to achieve these objectives together with its own people. This is a huge virtue and a huge advantage in today's modern world. The economists will I am sure find that some economic factor and not this lies behind Turkey's success: improving demographics and industrialisation. I am sure they will find some explanation, but I am also convinced that even with an increasing population – populations are increasing elsewhere too – and even with attempts at industrialisation – there are attempts in other countries also – this in itself could not give rise to an economy, the Turkish economy, that we, who are here today, all respect to such a great extent. This requires leadership. A leadership that provides a country with stability.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Deeply Respected Mr. President,
When we welcome you here in Hungary, then we are not welcoming the leader of a huge economy, but the representative of a system of politics that is worthy of respect. I hope you all have an enjoyable stay here in Hungary!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
While we are on the subject of objectives, I would like to take this opportunity to recall what the Prime Minister of Turkey told me when I last had a meeting with him in Ankara at the end of last autumn. He said that by 2023, the one-hundredth anniversary of the proclamation of the republic, Turkey want to be among the world's ten strongest economies. This is how a true leader speaks. This is how a people who believe in themselves speak. And let there be no doubt that it may well be the case that by 2023, Turkey will indeed be among the world's ten strongest economies. And if, deeply respected President Gül, you are searching for courageous partners to help achieve this objective, then you have come to the right place. Because, although to a different order of magnitude, within a different coordinate system and within a different environment, Hungary has also set itself the objective of becoming significantly stronger. We have set ourselves this goal despite the fact that we are members of the European Union, and the European Union has faced significant challenges with regard to its competitiveness in recent years, and although we [the EU] have tried all sorts of things, we have still not found the solution. We have done much so far within the European Union, but it is not enough; I wouldn't say we were slow either, but we are not fast enough. And accordingly, Hungary is trying to become successful within a European Union whose rate of growth in the upcoming years is expected and forecast to be slower than the rate of growth of the Hungarian economy, assuming that the Hungarian economy wishes to grow significantly and noticeably.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This means that Hungary must become competitive. Today, I proudly told the President of the Republic – he was not surprised, or if he was, then he hid it very well – that Hungary is now a competitive country. And I also told him that this was not the case a few years ago. Hungary has become a competitive country because the people accepted, believed and embraced the idea that for us to have jobs and marketable products, meaning for us to be competitive, we must not view the crisis as an act of God, but as a huge opportunity. An opportunity for all of us to acknowledge the fact that we cannot go on this way. The crisis was a clear indication that if we continue using the same tools and carry on acting in the same way as we did prior to the crisis, then we cannot achieve anything other than what we in fact achieved by using these tools, and that is another crisis. And accordingly, the crisis is an opportunity that forces us to rethink everything, re-plan everything, re-examine the validity of all of our previous conclusions and, if needed, to revise our thoughts, our plans and our goals. And I must say that the people of Hungary – because what the politicians want is one thing, but that in itself isn't worth much in a democracy – the people of Hungary accepted the fact that we must view this situation as an opportunity within the crisis: we must rethink ourselves and reorganise ourselves, although that is often uncomfortable and sometimes even painful, but nevertheless we must reorganise ourselves and make the country and our homeland competitive.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is why Hungary has become a European production centre since 2010, in accordance with all of its professed objectives. This is why more people in Hungary are working now than four years ago. This is why more people want to work than previously and why everyone has realised that instead of benefits, they are better off striving to make a living through work.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This is why there were years, 2012 was such a year, I think, in which the number of foreign investments in Hungary tripled over the course of a single year. Because the world is not blind, and luckily does not read the papers every morning. And as a result they also receive good news about Hungary, and investors don't make decisions on the basis of newspaper articles, but based on figures and reality, and we are opening and inaugurating new industrial units, factories, business expansions and investment projects every single week.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Hungary has become a production centre. There are still things to be done within this field, but the time has come for us to set ourselves a new objective. While preserving Hungary's production centre character, Hungary must also be made into a European innovation area. The required decisions have been made, projects are underway, and this all guarantees that, as the Marxists of old used to say, as we learned at university at political economics lectures – the Turkish have no idea what this is, but the point is that this is what we learned during communism – that the goal is to connect to the work distribution of the global economy at a higher level of development, meaning we should not only be a production centre, but also an innovation area.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have the opportunity to become just that, but this requires partners. Hungary regards Turkey as a partner of this nature.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Of course, we are in the middle of an election campaign, and everyone likes to talk big at times like this; I will make do with the expression European innovation area, because of course although there may be an election campaign, but life goes on, the country must live, and so we must perform our jobs with restraint and responsibility even during an election campaign.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to inform you about another thing with relation to our meeting today. President Gül and I were talking about the figures for Turkish investment in Hungary and the level of Hungarian investment in Turkey, and we concluded that the figures are pretty low. Trade turnover and the level of trade in general has increased somewhat, the latest figures are more elegant; speak of long term promise, are better, but the figures for mutual investments are rather low. And we agreed with President Gül that the reason for this is most probably that there is no really large flagship investors from Turkey to Hungary or from Hungary to Turkey. Because cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises is important, it is very important, but we need a big project, a large investment, and major decision, a significant influx of capital, a large flagship behind which other Turkish investors can reach Hungary, and we need a similar Hungarian flagship in Turkey, behind which more Hungarian enterprises can arrive in Turkey. And we came to an agreement with President Gül that we would work on designating an area within which we can mutually establish flagship programmes of this kind. We did not solve this problem over lunch today, because then we couldn't explain why our staff receive their salaries, but we instead agreed to spend the next weeks and months working to designate this field and find suitable participants so that flagship investments can begin.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with this hope and with these thoughts that I wish you a successful meeting, I congratulate Turkey and express my acknowledgement to Turkey's President of the Republic in the name of Hungary, and I wish you all a Turkish-Hungarian friendship that is even closer than it is today.
Thank you for your attention.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
