Honourable Prime Minister, Your Excellencies, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great respect that I greet you, the participants of the China – Central- and Eastern-European Countries Economic and Trade Forum. Permit to extend my special welcome to the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency, Wen Jiabao and the high ranking Chinese government dignitaries accompanying him on his trip. I would like to extend a special welcome to the invited dignitaries and representatives of European governments.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

The western financial-economic crisis and the ensuing economic lapse and stagnation have brought about a new world. The strong have become weak, the weak have turned strong. Transformation is happening in front of our eyes with astonishing speed. Within a short period of time it will be decided who will be on the winning and who will find themselves on the looser side of the transformation. The task is clear: to understand what the new world is going to be like, what rules will govern it and who can be its champions? Every mainstream economic analysis mentions the guest of honour of our conference today, the People’s Republic of China in the first place among the champions. How can it be possible? What does China know, what is it that Chinese people know better than others? Is it enough to say that they are more numerous, that China has a huge territory and population; that it has a huge internal market? Looking from Hungary it seems that this in itself is not enough for an answer. From the Western, the European and Hungarian perspective it seems that what was needed was China’s loyalty to a few principles, which we here in the West have turned our backs on in recent times. I am thinking of very simple, yet important principles. Fundamental truths, like we cannot continuously consume more than what we produce. Or that the basic building block of the economy is value created by work, that – whatever tricks we deploy – we cannot create value from nothing, that once the illusion has passed, someone always has to perform the work, someone has to pay the price at the end of the day, if not us, then our children or grandchildren. The West knew this well, just like Europe, the cradle of the Western civilization. It is enough to recall that the words “sin” and “debt” in the original text of the Lord’s Prayer were still synonymous with each other. It was this knowledge and this understanding that made the West great and successful. Abandoning this rational thinking, the birth and destruction brought about by new ideologies and utopia that caused us to stumble from one crisis to the other during the past decade. The time has come for us to draw the appropriate conclusions. I believe that the centre of Europe, our great common region, Central Europe is capable of doing this. Understanding the new world, the new rules seem to be something that people in this part of the world are especially good at. Perhaps it is because the abundance of God’s punishments and historic storms have taught us that if need be, we should be able to change without hesitation and to be open to accepting new rules and new truths. One could debate for long about the causes, but one thing is incontestable: Central-Europe cannot be disregarded; this region has not carried so much promise and hope for decades as it does now.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

People living here have clear objectives: they wish to live in freedom, security and prosperity. They know precisely that they will never get this as a gift from anybody. They know precisely that there is only one road leading to this: they have to work for it, to work hard and to the best of their knowledge. These more than 100 million individual objectives from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic together make up a significant economic potential. It is an open secret today that the most significant reserves for the economic growth of the whole of Europe are to be found here in Central-Europe, in the region from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic. The people and the elected leaders of Central-Europe are aware of this opportunity. They are aware of the merits of cooperation. And this brings with it stability and predictability in the region. Most of us are already members of the major Euro-Atlantic alliance systems, and work is underway to integrate those who were so far left out of the reunification. People in Central-Europe today no longer ask: what is it that separates us, but instead what kind of cooperation is required for us to achieve our common objective as soon as possible.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Honourable Prime Minister,

After the change of the political system, Hungary set out on its path to renewal with great hopes, but deviated from this path several times. From time to time we were also captivated by the false illusions that led to the crisis of the Western world. We were also often led to believe that there is prosperity without work; they also made us believe that we should not be concerned about the increasing indebtedness. We paid a very big price. But it was the high price, all the disappointment and suffering that lets me say with confidence that: Hungarian people understand the rules of the new world, never before during the past decades have they seen so clearly and evidently where they have to advance, what the only path to success and prosperity is. They see now that only those can be successful in the period after the 2008 crisis who build a strong state. Only those can be successful who keep the state indebtedness low. Only those can be successful who keep the debt level of the country low and not only that of the state, but who also help to mitigate the debt of families and enterprises.  Only those will be successful who operate a low budget deficit. We see that only those will be successful, for whom there is no external financial dependence restricting the state in pursuing its own tailor-made and country specific economic policies. And even if it is forced to rely on external resources, it will have the capability of using these resources in a diversified manner. Only those countries will be successful, where the domestic savings are high, because this is the way to circumvent the external debt trap, from which Hungary now suffers the worst in the region. We think that only those will be strong and successful, where the industry is strong and competitive, because after the 2008 crisis it is clear for everyone that it is impossible to build a strong economy and security purely based on services and the finance industry without a strong industry. Only those can be successful who understand also that a high level of employment is needed, because the young generation needs jobs. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, only those will be successful, who see and understand that scientific development cannot remain in isolation, but instead it should be and indeed it can be the driving force of economic development. And let us not be ashamed to say that dynamic development will only happen there, where the tools of long term planning and coordination are used, because the market is not capable of doing the job of long term planning and coordination. The market is only self-regulating on the short term, it isn’t on the long term, nor does it have to ability to look forward.   

Distinguished Prime Minister,

You honour us with your visit, when we are at the height of our activities. Your visit coincides with a period, when we still have to transform a lot of things in Hungary, but the results of the work have already become palpable. The world – including those who were openly sceptical about Hungary – acknowledges that we have chosen the right direction. Today we can safely say, what might have seemed unbelievable a year ago: Hungary is the most stable country of Central-Europe, and has every right to strive to become again a strong driver in the region. We are at an arms’ reach from this objective, as the dozen of agreements signed today attest to it. However, success, strength and the encouraging perspectives also require a sense of responsibility. It is no coincidence that the priority topics of the Hungarian EU Presidency also reflected this responsibility. Our country has managed to tangibly contribute to the success of European crisis management; it has ensured that the Union will welcome a new member in a period when enlargement fatigue, stress and disillusion almost overcame Europe. We undertook to establish a new system of economic governance at the European level, one that would help us prevent new crisis from developing. And we succeeded.   

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Honourable Prime Minister,

Today is an important milestone and a resounding success in the renewal of Hungary, because we have established a new alliance of major significance with the People’s Republic of China. Good and strong alliances and allies are more important than ever in this new world of new rules. Hungary is currently already the member of several such good alliances, because traditional European and Trans-Atlantic alliances are strong. However, we need new types of alliances and allies to ensure that the current renewal of the country is a success, to allow Hungary to achieve its set objectives, primarily the complete economic turn and to truly become the most stable state of Central-Europe. A good alliance requires common foundations, courageous, firm but achievable objectives. I am on the opinion that it is also true in the case of China and Hungary that we understand the new world; we understand its new rules and simple truths. Both our countries have firmly committed themselves to a value creating, work based economy. Work and the respect for value creation constitute our common foundations. Honourable Prime Minister, I do not know any other country in history, which was capable of what you achieved in the past two, two and a half decades. We do not know any other country in world history, which was capable of honouring the moral commandment, that the economy should be used to lift out as many people as possible from despair and to open the road to prosperity for them. During the past two, two and a half decades China opened up the possibility for millions of Chinese people to rise from poverty. This is performance, this moral and human achievement, is something in front of which, we Hungarians bow with respect.   

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

The value based alliance between us is strengthened further by our common objectives. We are both committed to sustainable development with long-term perspectives. We both see job creation to be the only safeguard for this and finally – especially important at this forum – we both agree that the alliance of our countries may point well beyond the relations between China and Hungary. This cooperation may also open the way for China to the Central-European region and Hungary is ready also to play this role.

Honourable Prime Minister,

This is not our first meeting, between you and us. Our cooperation looks back on a significant past. Hungary established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China close to 62 years ago. Hungary has always acknowledged and also acknowledges today the “one China” principle and has always respected, just as it respects today the policies of the People’s Republic of China. Currently the only air-link between the region and Beijing is with Budapest, the Bank of China established its only Central-European bank so far in Budapest and this is where the only bilingual school of the region operates. We have expanded these important pillars of cooperation with twelve other agreements. 
 
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

The return visit of the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China now is a historic milestone in the line of our endeavours. Hungary is ready to act as a long standing economic, financial and logistic bridgehead in the South-East European region. Aligning with the new rules of the new world, the mutual interests bridging our countries also promote the cooperation that we have managed to strengthen today. 

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

Hungary as a member of the European Union is surrounded by several EU and non-EU countries. Hungary is also part of the Schengen-zone; borders within this region have disappeared, meaning that persons and goods can move freely from here to even the most distant points of almost all European countries. Thus, Hungary’s situation is extremely favourable in many respects.  

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are grateful that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, the Chinese head of government has honoured this Forum with his presence, we thank him for presenting the aspirations and the policies of China with respect to our region. It is evident for me that mutually beneficial cooperation is in the interest of Hungary, China and the countries of the region also. From the Hungarian side it is in our interest to allow Chinese companies already established here to develop and further expand their presence, to allow new actors to appear here and to realise new projects bringing new jobs to the region. One of the important messages of this day from Hungary is that we are willing to welcome Chinese investment in the field of aviation, transportation, railways, telecommunication, finance, tourism, recreation, services and environment protection. I consider infrastructure and transportation development to be especially significant, since these may constitute a driving force for other sectors as well. This is why I am happy to announce that the Hungarian government will establish a Western Balkans Investment Forum here in Budapest, which would collect and coordinate the development plans of the region which have so far existed independently and to raise international funds required for the projects. I would encourage our Chinese partners to support the promotion of Hungarian exports to their country, to support the appearance of Hungarian companies on the significant markets of the People’s Republic of China.  

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Honourable Prime Minister,

The renewal of Hungary is successfully underway. Our results are testament to the work done so far. We could not be standing here today with my Chinese colleague, if we Hungarians were not courageous enough to rise to the challenge posed by weak heartedness, idleness and debt accumulation. Central-Europe and within it our country, Hungary stand with great hopes, serious perspectives and justified plans in front of future opportunities and tasks. It is with these thought that I wish the participants of the China – Central- and Eastern-European Countries Economic and Trade Forum a successful meeting and I wish that their common projects should serve well the further development of our countries, people and our region.

Thank you for honouring me with your attention.


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