According to the ministry’s announcement, the head of the department stated at the business forum of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) that at the beginning of last year, the hope that calmer times would come following the coronavirus epidemic proved to be a naive illusion, because the war in Ukraine broke out, and as a result, in an unprecedented way , the world economy turned upside down twice within a short period of time.
He called it a big mistake that Europe entered into competition with the United States, the world’s leading military power, in terms of defense assistance to Ukraine. He pointed out that the war is taking place in Europe, and although the negative consequences are global, they are felt most severely in the neighborhood, not thousands of kilometers away from the country.
He believed that Hungary is in the minority in the transatlantic alliance with its stance of diplomatic settlement, but the world is not only made up of these countries, and from the “view of the bubble” it is clear that the government belongs to the global majority in this matter.
He said that the basis of European economic development has so far been the combination of advanced Western technologies and easily available, cheap Russian energy carriers, but the ties are being cut, and the situation may deteriorate further, because some would also like to abolish European-Chinese cooperation, which ” would knock out” the European economy.
The minister reported that Hungary does not discriminate once morest the companies of any state, so it has become a meeting point for Eastern and Western investments in the automotive industry, which is a guarantee of long-term economic growth and protection once morest uncertainties.
There are 1,700 American companies in Hungary
Finally, he announced that American companies make up the second largest investor community in Hungary, 1,700 companies employ regarding 107,000 people, and that in 2022, the record for bilateral trade turnover will be broken by 16 percent.
According to his information, the government has supported 103 American investments with roughly two billion dollars in the last eight years, and such negotiations are currently underway with eight companies.
He emphasized that today economic cooperation is the best-functioning pillar of the American-Hungarian relationship, which is common when there is right-wing leadership in Budapest and democratic party leadership in Washington, and the government relies on American companies to keep the relationship alive.
“Just because”
He also touched on the termination of the treaty on avoiding double taxation, welcoming that the leaders of the American Republican Party promised to re-negotiate it in the event of a change of government. According to the minister, they indicated to the American government that the Hungarian government is ready for negotiations.
He also sent a letter, but the response made it clear to him that the current US administration is not ready to negotiate to reopen the issue of the double taxation agreement that was terminated last summer. The answer was “just because”.
Péter Szijjártó repeated at the business forum: he “gave a definite signal” regarding the Hungarian position to the American government, and the Hungarian finance minister also initiated negotiations with his American counterpart in Washington on the issue. However, as it turned out, this did not lead to results, reports ATV.
Washington broke up with us
The existence of double tax treaties for the individual countries participating in them symbolizes the high level of economic relations and also provides a kind of security and guarantee for the companies and private individuals of the respective countries.
In July last year, the United States notified Hungary that it was terminating the double taxation agreement between the two countries. The provisions of the expiring agreement regarding the assessment of tax can still be applied until December 31, 2023, i.e. there is no change in the tax treatment of income generated until the end of this year
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