Prime Minister Babiš talked with Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán on strengthening trade and V4 cooperation

On 30 November 2018, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. During the talks in Kramář’s Villa, they talked about deepening bilateral relations, other opportunities for trade, as well as European issues. They continued the discussion at a working lunch in the Hrzán Palace.

Prime Minister Babiš appreciated that Czech and Hungarian top officials manage to meet very frequently. In addition, both countries have close relations in the economic, security and cultural areas. Cooperation within the Visegrad Group is also significant, from which Prime Minister Babiš highlighted the focus on dialogue with European partners in order to deepen mutual understanding.

Hungary is among the top ten most important business partners in the Czech Republic, and mutual trade has been steadily growing in recent years. According to Prime Minister Babiš, there are new opportunities for business cooperation, especially in defence industry, energy and transport infrastructure.

“We are very successful in deepening our economic cooperation, especially in the defence industry. We also talked about Prime Minister Orbán’s specific plan to support birth rate in Hungary. This is one of our problems, too. We want to create conditions for mothers, for young families, so that they do not have children for economic reasons. That would be a disaster”, said Prime Minister Babiš.

The two Prime Ministers also discussed European affairs. They mainly focused on the issue of migration, where they agreed on the need to assist in third countries, as well as the issues of the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework, forthcoming European Parliament elections or energy policy. The discussion also focused on Brexit. The Prime Ministers hope that the current agreement with the United Kingdom will be approved.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš visited Hungary on January 26 this year. During this official visit, he met Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President János Áder. Another working visit of the Czech Prime Minister to Hungary took place on 31 August 2018.