According to the statement, in his speech, the Foreign Minister reported that the coronavirus epidemic has provided many lessons for the world and clearly shows the importance of innovation. In this regard, he thanked the research and medical community for being able to develop vaccines in such a short time.

He noted that vaccines are the only solution to the health dimension of the crisis, so the international community must be able to vaccinate the entire world population, that is, it is a matter of the capacity needed for successful control. He then added that Hungary is therefore building its own vaccine factory, and hopefully other countries are doing the same.

Péter Szijjártó emphasized that ideological or political issues, which are the means of saving lives, should not be addressed. Authorities should have a professional, fact-based procedure for licensing, to the exclusion of all other aspects, he said.

He underlined that some would like the patent protection for coronavirus vaccines to be lifted in the light of the epidemic, but the Hungarian government said this could discourage researchers from continuing their work in the future.

Finally, he stressed that the goal of the world economy and world trade is the number of “black years” after 2020 should be encouraged to invest, thus supporting job creation after more than 140 million people became unemployed globally. It is therefore important to support small and medium-sized enterprises in being able to enter foreign markets. As he said, this is especially important in Hungary, which is one of the most open economies in the world, so the government can still go to great lengths to help develop R&D capacities.

Cover image: Portfolio