We will soon celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Visegrad Group. It should be above all highlighted that the V4 Group has proved its worth as a format for regional and European cooperation. However, we are currently facing many new challenges and projects where collaboration in V4 format is particularly important. Together, we can strive more effectively to develop our region. I see the particular importance of working in V4 format in the green and digital context. For this reason, we want to organize a V4 ministerial conference on the issue of fair transition, after which we could put forward in the EU, with one voice, the substantive demands on the process of transition. For this reason, it is important for us to cooperate in the area of climate and energy policy and to strengthen cooperation within the V4 framework, with a possible extension to V4+ and the Three Seas initiative,

- stressed Jarosław Gowin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economic Development, Labour and Technology.

European affairs 

The fair energy transition is one of the leading topics on the agenda of the Polish-Hungarian cooperation. Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin noted that the economic situation of the Member States was very different. Regions with the greatest transformational needs and less capable of creating the right innovations cannot bear the highest costs of the planned projects. The Ministers from Poland and Hungary stressed that if we want to carry out climate change in a fair way, no one should be left out. At the same time, they agreed that ambitious reforms offer an opportunity to boost the development of the economy. The fair and inclusive transition is the only way to ensure the long-term success of the Green Deal and to avoid the construction of a two-speed European Union.  As the head of the Ministry for Economic Development, Labour and Technology noted, Poland finds crucial the need to define the mechanisms by which less prosperous countries will not bear disproportionate costs linked to the climate change. In the view of Poland and Hungary, ambitious environmental and climate objectives should be accompanied by an action plan for its implementation and financial support, which will enable each Member State to carry out the transition.

Joint action in the field of space policy

The next of the discussed topic was space cooperation. Commissioned by the Ministry for Economic Development, Labour and Technology, Polish Space Agency is currently working on a preliminary investigation on which Polish companies, and in which areas, would potentially be interested in cooperating with Hungary. The results will be known in February 2021.

Polish-Hungarian economic cooperation

According to CSO, Polish-Hungarian trade turnover in 2019 amounted to EUR 10,366.8 million, which means an increase of 7% compared to 2018. Polish exports amounted to EUR 6,514.3 million (+9% y/y), imports to EUR 3,852.5 million (+3% y/y) and the balance, positive for Poland, to EUR 2,661.8 million.
Polish exports to Hungary accounted for 2.8% of Polish exports, imports from Hungary accounted for 1.6% of global imports, and the total Polish-Hungarian trade accounts for 2.2% of Polish foreign trade turnover. Polish exports to Hungary accounted for 3.5% of Polish exports to the European Union countries, while imports from Hungary reflected 2.9% of imports from the EU countries and the Polish-Hungarian trade turnover represented 3.2% of the overall trade turnover with the EU countries. 
In 2019, Hungary was Polish 10th most important export partner. In terms of the value of Polish imports, Hungary was at the 18th place in 2019 .
According to the data of the National Bank of Poland, Poland’s direct investment in Hungary in 2019 amounted to a total net of EUR -71,4 million, with net equity (stocks and other forms of equity) of EUR -114,3 million, the amount of reinvested net profits of EUR 87,4 million and net debt instruments of EUR -44,4 million. The cumulative value of Polish direct investment in Hungary at the end of 2019 was EUR 1.3 billion (5.9% of the share), which means that Hungary is the fifth largest recipient of our investment (after Luxembourg, Cyprus, Czech Republic and Germany). Polish investments in Hungary were mainly located in food industry, IT and industrial production.
In contrast, Hungary’s direct investment in Poland in 2019 amounted to a total net of EUR 430,2 million, with net equity (stocks and other forms of equity) of EUR 334,7 million, the amount of reinvested net profits of EUR 27,3 million and net debt instruments of EUR 68,1 million. The cumulated Hungarian investments in Poland amounted to EUR 1.7 billion (0.8% share). In 2019 alone, the annual capital inflow from Hungary reached EUR 430 million.
 Jarosław Gowin and Péter Szzijártó discussed the prospects of extending economic cooperation with the public procurement market.  A positive role in the intensification of bilateral relations can be played by the newly established Polish-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, which brings together entrepreneurs from both countries.