During a business forum after the opening ceremony, State Secretary for National Policy at the Prime Minister’s Office, Árpád János Potápi, spoke about a program launched in March by Hungaryʼs State Secretariat to represent young Hungarian entrepreneurs beyond Hungaryʼs borders, being carried out in partnership with the trading house, kormany.hu reported. 

The tender budget of HUF 525 million was made available last week according to Potápi. “Proposals may be submitted for sums between three and six million forints. We primarily expect micro-businesses to submit proposals, and I believe that these amounts will provide significant help for the awarded bidders to reinforce their operations,” the state secretary said, according to kormany.hu. 

In her speech at the business forum, Éva Molnár, the Hungarian ambassador in Bratislava, said that it is a priority for the Hungarian Government to increase its economic presence in the field of trade and investments and establish closer ties between Hungary and neighboring countries with large Hungarians minorities. 

Péter Kiss-Parciu, head of the Border Regions Economic Development Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade also spoke at the forum about the importance of improving cross-border infrastructure in the region during the EU fiscal cycle of 2014 to 2020. “We have the most ambitious plans on the Slovak-Hungarian border,” he noted. 

The Hungarian National Trading House has 22 offices throughout the Carpathian Basin with the aim of promoting trade, the export activities of Hungarian businesses, the integration of trade relations among small and medium-sized enterprises operating on the two sides of the border and increasing employment in the near-border regions, kormany.hu added.