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“Hungary supports India’s claim for Security Council seat”

Ferenc Gyurcsány: “We have to set open our countries’ gates.”

In the past four to five years, our bilateral trade ties have increased three-fold to almost $300 million. This is not a significant sum in India’s foreign trade, but let us not forget that we set off from a very low figure. Obviously many businessmen had to meet one another and many deals had to be concluded to achieve this three-fold growth.

Now, what can we politicians do? We have to make continued efforts to remove political, cultural and other hindrances. We have to set open our countries’ gates. In this matter, I think, we are progressing in the right direction.

Another thing that [the government leaders] can do is to propagate the mutually available trade and investment incentives — to tell businessmen what new possibilities await them in Hungary as well as the scope India offers. My delegation includes representatives of 30 top Hungarian companies, who are interested mainly in machine engineering, the pharmaceutical industry and the energy sector. We have to open ways for cooperation through high-level agreements. For example, an energy industry deal is to be signed between the Hungarian petroleum company MOL and the ONGC.

An agreement is to be signed for setting up a Hungarian-Indian Fund to finance joint research projects. It goes without saying that this marks a huge leap over the days when we could talk only of trade in handicrafts and garments.

During the three days in India, we would be taking off and landing seven times to cover a wide spectrum. Members of our delegation may not be too happy that such a fast tempo is in store for them. A big part of our visit will involve economic cooperation.

India is highly advanced in information technology and in certain segments, Hungary has immense advantages and huge experience. Achievements of the Hungarian scientists, from John von Neumann to Edward Teller or Erno Rubik, are well-known all over the world. We would like to assist joint projects with the participation of Indian and Hungarian researchers and institutions. Here, we also must help inter-university cooperation, because research activities in Hungary are mostly carried out by institutions such as the Budapest or the Miskolc Technical Universities.

Another significant area could be biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, where Hungary is one of the most significant centres of Europe.

Yet another area of interest is the film industry. India is a world power in film production. We have a huge studio complex built with American cooperation. Indian film art is not so well known here, and if the film-makers could come closer to one another, it would definitely help.

Europe and Asia rival each other in a number of economic and scientific fields, and I have to admit much more dynamism is to be seen in India and Asia than in Europe. Obviously, there are many domains where success can be achieved only through cooperation. These include continued removal of obstacles in international trade and issues that have to be jointly addressed — global climatic changes and reduction of gases causing the glasshouse effect.

The Indian automobile industry and machine engineering are growing at a very high pace. We would like if Hungary could — at least partially — be the gateway to Europe for this fast developing Indian sector.

Hungary can provide perhaps the best background with its fast expanding motorways and central location in the Union. It is almost equidistant between the southern part of Europe and Scandinavia. Hungary can offer well-equipped industrial parks at favourable terms to investors. For example, we are already negotiating in this regard with the Indian company Apollo, which is studying the possibility of a greenfield investment in Hungary. It is heartening to note that three Hungarian cities are vying with one another for this investment by offering ever more favourable terms.

Hungary supports India’s claim to permanent membership within an expanded U.N. Security Council, and I do intend to outline Hungary’s stand on this matter during the visit.

We set up a reconstruction group in the Baghlan province to work for two years. We decided last year to extend the mandate of this group for an indefinite period. We have also decided to provide management and supervision to the Kabul international airport from this year. These are the two main fields of our presence in Afghanistan. We also have a preliminary decision to provide combat support in a southern Afghan province. This means we will take on a part of the Dutch contingent’s task.

India is a modern country. Despite occasional difficulties, it has quite successfully preserved the diverse cultures and it has done so in today’s world, where we notice a strong tendency towards homogenisation. There is political unity in the European Union, within whose framework we want to preserve our national identities, languages, cultures and religions. Side by side, we have to aim at modernisation. The question is how to face this challenge without going backward? India has been successful in this respect too: it has simultaneously preserved the traditions and is on the path of progress. We have to learn a great deal in this respect.

There is a growing concern in Europe on how to handle conflicts emanating from the co-existence of various cultures. The past 10 years show an increase in the number of conflicts resulting from the inadequate handling of cultural, ethnic and religious confrontations. India can show to us in Europe many examples of how these problems can be addressed.

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“Hungary supports India’s claim for Security Council seat”

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