AirAsia will launch direct flights between Bangkok and Budapest in autumn after tourist traffic between the two countries doubled in 2023 compared to the previous year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced in Bangkok on Tuesday.
According to the ministry’s statement, following talks with his Thai counterpart, the minister revealed that tourist traffic has doubled, with more than 10,000 Thai tourists visiting Hungary last year, while more than 30,000 Hungarians travelled to Thailand. ‘As a result, one of Thailand’s international airlines is already considering launching a Budapest route. Preparations have started and negotiations will be concluded today. We have a good chance of establishing a direct connection between Bangkok and Budapest in the near future,’ he conveyed.
The minister pointed out that the development of bilateral cooperation would greatly benefit the domestic economy. Last year, trade turnover peaked at $730 million and there was significant investment from Thailand in both the hotel and food sectors, too. In addition, demand for Hungarian food, medical equipment, and pharmaceuticals is also growing in the Southeast Asian country. Szijjártó also noted that
Hungary intends to use its EU presidency to strengthen the community’s foreign economic relations,
given that the competitiveness of the continent has declined significantly in recent years, ‘one of the reasons for which is the self-destructive economic policy pursued by Brussels,’ stated the minister. He added: ‘Instead of conducting rational negotiations on free trade agreements with major players in the world economy, each negotiation was burdened with ideological issues.’
‘Yet, if the European Union is unwilling to abandon this ideological approach, it will eventually find itself unable to trade with anyone but itself, and we clearly do not want that,’ the minister declared. He said that rationality and pragmatism should be the basis for free trade negotiations in the period ahead. Therefore, Hungary will seek to speed up the recently resumed negotiations with Thailand in this area.
The minister announced that the government would also give impetus to negotiations on an investment protection agreement, which is also in the country’s interest as more investors from Thailand are coming in and trade is expanding. A free trade agreement and an investment protection agreement would facilitate both processes, from which the Hungarian economy could benefit greatly, Szijjártó pointed out. The minister reassured Thailand that Hungary supports its application to join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), emphasizing that it is one of the few international organizations that has remained impartial and balanced and has not allowed its operations to be politicized.
He stressed that while world politics is currently complicated by conflicts and international organizations have become highly ideological, making it difficult to build relationships, it is refreshing to see that even in remote parts of the world like Thailand, there are countries that have rational, mutually respectful foreign policies.
‘We agreed that every country has the sovereign right to determine its own foreign policy strategy, every country has the sovereign right to pursue its own national interests in foreign policy, and every country has the right to resist the pressure exerted by powerful actors in international politics on sovereign countries to change their positions,’ the foreign minister concluded.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/KIM/MTI
