Recently, Georgia hosted Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who manage to meet the Georgian business elite during his short-term visit. Hungarian minister listened to Georgian business voice and left the country with a sense that there might be more space for Hungary and Georgia to deepen economic and business relations. Minister's views became more apparent in an interview with him, conducted by Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Georgia Giorgi Isakadze.
Mr. Szijjarto, thank you for this opportunity. We are glad to see you. Would you be so kind to, first of all, tell us about the purpose of your visit? Can you elaborate on the purpose of the visit? What are the main goals?
Hungary and Georgia enjoy a relationship based on mutual trust and mutual respect. We have no open issues in our political agenda because we don't spend too much time lecturing and criticizing each other. We always respect that Georgians know the best for the Georgians. The Georgian government never feels the necessity to tell us how to accommodate our own lives. So, it is a political relationship based on mutual respect. This is the most important. This gives us the chance to take the benefit of it. That's why economic cooperation is becoming more and more vivid. We work a lot to help Hungarian companies be successful in your market, be it the pharmaceutical food industry, water management, or defense industry.
We have even opened a credit line with the Hungarian Exim Bank for $140 million to finance business cooperation between Georgian and Hungary. I hope it's going to be exhausted quickly because then we can open a new credit line. On the other hand, we support a lot the Eastern Partnership program of the European Union, in which Georgia is a key stakeholder. And we want to see the integration process of Georgia when it comes to European and Euro Atlantic procedures to be successful and see you working closer together with democracy.
Can we say that primarily your agenda was economic?
Yeah, we can say that.
But at the same time, Hungary is preparing for the chairmanship within the European Council. Was that the topic of the discussion with Georgian government members?
Sure. We are preparing for our chairmanship in the ministerial commission of the Council of Europe. Georgia is part of the organization. I know that there are fundamental issues for Georgia on the agenda. Of course, we are working together with Minister David Zalkaliani on these issues.
We have set three very important priorities, which I guess are in line with your government's political focuses. First, the family, the institution of family, is being somewhat under attack recently. We in Hungary carry out a solid subsidy policy for families. I understand family is taken seriously by the government here. Second, the protection of Christianity, you Georgians, and we Hungarians know very well the significance of the Christian heritage to be preserved. The third is the issue of the national minorities. We see massive violations of the rights of those persons who belong to national minorities. This is something that we have to push back. Otherwise, such kind of violations of rights can become root causes for further conflict, which we have to avoid.
Mr. Minister, you came to Georgia from Israel. Israel is the most prominent leader worldwide in the vaccination program. Let's begin talking about the pandemic itself, how it impacted European countries, and how Hungary dealt with it?
You are right. Mostly the reason for our visit to Israel was to set up further cooperation regarding the fight against Covid-19. You know, they have a fantastic track record when it comes to vaccination. More than 5 million people have received at least the first doses out of 9.5 million. On the other hand, they are introducing the so-called green card system, which is a kind of Covid-passport. We have been introducing the green card system in Hungary as well. So far, it's only a plastic card because we have not decided what kind of benefits the cardholders can have is based on a national consultation that is going on. In our case, we understood very clearly that the only real solution for this crisis is vaccination. You know that the European Commission has launched a centralized procurement of the vaccines, which failed.
Not failed but delayed. Do you consider it a failure?
These kinds of delays mean failure because what happened was that according to the expectations compared to the contracts, the manufacturers deliver much less vaccine and much later, much slower.
In our case, for example, today, we had 9 000 new cases. 170 people died. There are almost 10 000 people treated in hospitals. 10% of them are on ventilators. So, we can't wait. I mean, we can't wait on contracts. We can't wait on delayed shipments. So, what we have done was the following that we signed contracts both with Russia and China. We contracted altogether 7 million doses, which makes it possible for 3.5 million people to be vaccinated. China has already delivered 1 million shots 20 days before the deadline. And when 170 people die on a daily basis when the shipment comes 20 days earlier, you can count the benefit. On the other hand, the Russians are doing their best to deliver on time as well. They are around 70% of delivery. So, we manage the situation with the eastern vaccines. But had we not contracted these volumes from Russia and China now, we would be in a very, very bad situation.
Hungary was the first among countries certifying the Chinese vaccine. Which vaccine is it?
Sinopharm is already being used in Hungary. In the European Union, there are two ways how vaccines can be, registered or certified. Well, the first is the ordinary procedure through the European Medicines Agency. The second way during the state of emergency, national regulators are allowed to issue so-called emergency use authorization. Our experts went to Russia, went to China, they went to the sites they visited, they checked the procedures, they checked the documentation, they had the necessary consultations based on which they made their responsible decision, saying that the emergency use authorization is being issued. Now we have been using Russian, we have been using Chinese. The prime minister himself was vaccinated by the Chinese vaccine. So far, what I can tell you is that our experiences are positive.
You had a few hours presence in Georgia, but you managed to meet with a part of the Georgian business community. I had the chance to attend. Your presentation was fascinating. You mentioned the space within the possible cooperation between Hungary and Georgia, where we see below zero political agenda during this year. Where do you see the room, as the head of the ministry, responsible for all the external economic relations, including investment, between Hungary and Georgia?
I think it's obvious that we have to take into consideration in which sectors we are successful enough, where we are brave and ready to offer our technologies and products. Regarding the pharmaceutical industry, we are number 19 globally when it comes to export. Two of the biggest Hungarian pharmaceutical companies have been present on the Georgia market already. The next one is civic aviation, obviously with there. It's a Hungarian company - market leader on the civic aviation front here in Georgia. They have a big base in Kutaisi, from where they cover 38 destinations under normal circumstances. We have the defense industry where the extension of your Ministry of Defense and our defense research company have good cooperation, and the tests have already taken place. While the industry definitely we have been involved already in upgrading the water network of Tbilisi now with the same kind of project in Kutaisi is to be large. We respect Georgian cuisine a lot. We respect Georgian agricultural products a lot. We are relatively strong on that as well. These are the areas where we have to put the most emphasis in the future.
What are the perspectives of the auto industry, which is number one in Hungary? Do you have any specific ideas about the possible cooperation with Georgia? I'm talking about the traditional automotive industry, which is moving to the electric industry.
You are right. The automotive industry is number one in Hungary. 30% of industrial performance comes from the automotive sector, which is a huge slice. And of course, now the main target is to transform our automotive industry from traditional to electromobility. We have been making big steps in that direction in cooperation with those five producers present in Hungary, namely Audi, Daimler, Suzuki, and BMW. We were successful in convincing them to locate their electromobility-related activities to Hungary. If Georgian companies can contribute to the success of the transformation of this industry or is that gives a huge, potential.
This is your 5th or 6th visit to Georgia. Tell us more about Georgia's geostrategic location. During the private meeting with the business community, you talked about Georgia's importance and potential within the region. Where do you see Georgia can attract more in these regards?
For us, the Caucasian region plays a vital role because of energy and transportation reasons. You know, the energy supply in Hungary is a critical issue - and entire Central Europe, because of the one-sided dependence position, of course. And the southern gas corridor constitutes a new reality. Now, the Southern Gas corridor goes through Georgia, and it gives us the chance to diversify our sources and routes when it comes to the country's gas supply. On the other hand, we have agreed in Azerbaijan just recently that Hungarian companies will be involved in Karabakh's reconstruction process. And I understand that those transportation corridors which are going to be set up there make more sense if they continue towards either direction, but Georgia definitely. And this gives us a chance to invest jointly in infrastructural development in the region.
Do you consider some joint ventures of participating in the Karabakh region as well, together with Georgia?
I had seven companies accompany me this week to Baku to see how Hungarian companies can be involved. I met the president, the foreign minister, and the minister of public works as well. And there, we agreed that they have an openness to include Hungarian companies. I'm sure that when these Hungarian companies locate their capacities here, they will still need the suppliers and subcontractors. That opens up the possibility for companies in the region.
