Liberal US administration working on destroying Hungarian relations, says PM's political director

Among the strategic goals of Hungary are to join the ranks of truly developed countries of the world as soon as possible, and to become a hub of research and development, at least regionally, says Balazs Orban. The PM's political director also revealed what is needed to achieve this.

Hungary does not adhere to ideologies because it is interested in maintaining relations rather than destroying them, said Balazs Orban, the Hungarian prime minister's political director, in his keynote speech at the opening of the second day of the 3rd Danube Geopolitical Summit, organized by the Danube Institute in Budapest.

Analyzing the geopolitical situation in the world, Mr Orban said that the experience of recent years shows that the economic performance of the West, its influence on the international institutional system and its neoliberal economic-political model are all in decline, while some of the countries outside the West have already surpassed it in economic performance, technological competition and the possession of raw materials.

Sensing this, the West decided to apply a new strategy for asserting its interests by starting to categorize individual countries as "good" or "bad", without caring that the herding of the "good" ones into sub-alliances and the efforts to ostracize the 'bad' reduces the strength of the entire community, and can also lead to internal tensions and conflicts,

he noted.

Under such conditions, according to the PM's political director, Hungary has three important goals: analyzing and adapting to the changing geopolitical and economic situation, achieving an end to the war in Ukraine by any means possible and as quickly as possible, because its continuation will only have negative economic, political and cultural consequences, and staying out of the war despite all the pressure. Balazs Orban is confident that the Hungarian government has the support of the population in this endeavor, because the people want to live in peace and freedom.

By studying different ideologies, Hungary tries to deduce from them the elements that can be applied to create value. At the same time, Hungary has no desire to be the instrument nor the servant of any great power, but decides on its own path forward after internal debates, he stressed.

Another strategic goal, the director cited, is for Hungary to join the ranks of truly developed countries of the world as soon as possible, and to become a hub of research and development, at least in regional terms. To this end, he identified economic steps such as infrastructure development, increasing productivity, further investment in public services and education, and as a political goal: Hungary having an influence on developments in the region.

Hungary's complex economy

He called for development of new partnerships, active institutional involvement and further integration into the global economy, as further tools for implementing such a policy.

The geographical location and cultural heritage of Hungary are conducive to achieving this, and serve as an important meeting point and bridge between East and West.

The country's complex, export-oriented economy is a good basis for Hungary to become a key state in the region. In this context, he pointed out that according to the Harvard Economic Complexity Index, Hungary is now the 11th most complex economy in the world - close behind the Netherlands, Germany and Austria - and that foreign capital influx into the country from both the East and the West have multiplied in the last 10 years.

Before closing his speech, he spoke about bilateral relations, highlighting as a negative example that the current liberal US administration is not working towards strengthening relations, but rather on destroying them.

As part of this endeavor, the US has gone as far as to employ ideological and political pressure tactics to dissuade American companies from investing in Hungary and vice versa, putting obstacles in front of Hungarian entrepreneurs who want to invest in the United States.

He added, however, that the Hungarian government is optimistic and will do its utmost to realize a just cooperation, as it is prudent, considering the excellent cooperation between the two countries in the past.

Cover photo: illustration (Photo: Facebook/Balazs Orban)