Foreign Minister János Martonyi held talks in Singapore between November 8 and 10 as part of his Southeast Asia tour.
The Asian region and its organizations play an important role in Hungarian foreign policy. Special attention is drawn by the economies that are comparable to Hungary in scale and other figures. Therefore the ASEAN countries are of high priority for Hungary due to the opportunities they offer considering their constant growth.
Singapore is Southeast Asia’s economic and financial center and Hungary’s most important partner in the region. During the visit Mr. Martonyi held talks with the President of Singapore, Dr. Tony Tan, Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as businessmen and Ministry of Finance officials.
„We expect a number of important investments. A company engaged in the car industry will be established in Miskolc. The export of Hungarian goods to Singapore is also growing. This last figure has trebled during the last three years and if things go well, the trend will continue this year.” said Mr. Martonyi after the meeting. A further increase of the 1.5 billion US dollar worth Singapore investments in Hungary is probable, mostly in electronics, tourism and real estate development.
The Ministers discussed the extension of existing bilateral agreements, concerning double taxation, education and research. Mr. Martonyi had talks with ASEF Executive Director, Michel Filhol, where further cooperation was discussed, in such spheres as human rights, foreign policy, environmental protection and education.
The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs held a lecture on the European economic and financial crises management at the EU Centre, run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Singapore together with the European Commission and the two leading universities of Singapore. The lecture was met with great interest due to the recent Hungarian EU presidency following which the opinion of Budapest is considered not only concerning bilateral relations, but the European situation in general.