Péter Szijjártó stressed that humanity is currently living in an era of dangers, but at the same time, this also holds many opportunities for Hungary, for example through East-West cooperation.
He said that some see this as a threat, but the Hungarian government sees it as an opportunity. "We think that we need to strengthen the relations between East and West. Those who see this as a threat would rather isolate the East and the West, especially the economic players, from each other," he said.
In this debate, he said, the best arguments are on Hungary's side, as its economy has benefited a lot in recent years from the fact that Hungary has become an important European meeting point between East and West.
He said that the Budapest-Belgrade railway line would be further proof of this, as it would bring Hungary significant benefits: on the one hand, it would bring it closer than ever to neighboring Serbia, and on the other hand, it would be the most competitive freight route for goods from the Far East to the ports of southern Europe and the West.
He underlined that the value of trade between the European Union and China is around €800 billion a year, which represents thousands of billions of euros for East Asia as a whole. "And a significant part of that is certainly coming by ship to southern Europe, from where it has to be transported by train to western Europe," he pointed out.
He also pointed out that thanks to the project, suburban rail transport in Budapest is set to develop enormously, and that an even greater proportion of freight and passenger transport in Hungary will be carried by rail, which is the most environmentally friendly mode of transport.
"This is the largest and most complex rail transport development in Hungary's history," he said.
The Minister concluded by saying that this is "when common sense overcomes ideological and dogmatic constraints", as the project would not have been possible if "we had pursued a foreign policy captured by ideological and dogmatic approaches".
He noted that this was a large and complex railway project, even by European standards, and that the fact that a Hungarian company could and can play a leading role in the project is testimony to the change in the dimension of the Hungarian economy in recent years.
"With this work, V-Híd has made its mark not only at the European level but also internationally (...) We have the machines, we have the people, we now have 1,200 people in the group, and we have the reference", he said.
He noted that the Hungarian railway construction industry's performance had already increased sevenfold since 2010, with a value of around 340 billion forints last year, an increase of more than 50 percent in a year.
