Hungary’s government on Monday unveiled a plan that aims to boost economic growth by reinforcing the place of domestic companies, especially SMEs, in the Carpathian Basin. “The main strategic goal of the Wekerle Plan is to strengthen the position of domestic businesses in the Carpathian Basin,” according to the document published on the government’s website.
The plan aims to achieve this goal by harmonising infrastructure in the region and creating a unified labour market.
“These are general aims that can be implemented in large part with the cooperation of the region’s states,” according to the document.
“The Hungarian government views ethnic Hungarian communities living in neighbouring countries as a strategic alliance in achieving goals at the level of the Carpathian Basin,” the document’s authors added.
The plan focuses on five areas of the region’s economy that can serve as breakthrough points: cooperation among vehicle and machinery industry suppliers, the green economy, the food industry, the tourism and health industry, and the creative industry and infocommunications sector.
The government approved the draft on the Wekerle Plan at a cabinet meeting on July 4, the economy ministry said in response to MTI.
The government will prepare a programme specifying the steps to be taken under the Wekerly Plan annually by the end of May, the ministry said. The deadline is September 30 this year, it said adding that the preperation of the annual programme for 2013 is underway.
The execution of the strategy will be overviewed by government commissionair Jeno Radetzky.
One key element of the institutional framework of the Wekerle Plan is the Carpatian Region Business Network being built jointly by the government’s Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency (HITA) and the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the ministry said. The number of the offices of the network will grow from five to 11 by the end of 2012. There are four offices in Romania and the fifth one just opened in Serbia.
Sandor Wekerle (1848-1921) was Prime Minister of Hungary three times between 1892 and 1918.
