Károly GroszPrime Minister, may I welcome you and the members of your delegation most warmly to No 10 Downing Street on your first visit to Britain. We are delighted to have you here.
We all remember the very successful visit of Mr Kadar nearly three years ago—in itself an historic occasion, because it was the first time that we had welcomed to [end p1] this house a leader from an East European country in his capacity as General Secretary of the Communist Party. Indeed, that is a record which still stands. I hope that you will take back our warm greetings to him.
For my part, I still have very happy memories of the warm and wholehearted welcome which [end p2] I received in Hungary on my visit in 1984. I have followed all that you have been doing since then with great interest and great sympathy.
Prime Minister, those visits were not—any more than yours is—mere protocol occasions. They had a solid purpose, that of opening up a direct channel of communication [end p3] between East and West, a channel which we have subsequently been able to use to very good effect.
Britain and Hungary alone are not going to settle the world's problems. But we can create between us the climate of trust and confidence which is needed much more widely if they are to be solved. [end p4] In short, we can be an example to others: and we have been.
There has been no question of trying to detach each other from our respective alliances or to undermine our respective social systems. No, we start from a basis of mutual respect. [end p5] We recognise that change has to come from within societies. We believe in honouring our obligations, particularly those under the Helsinki Accords, which offer a code for civilised government and for opening up contacts between ordinary people.
It is not just because of what we have achieved in our relations that the tremendous [end p6] changes in East/West relations over the last few years have taken place—the beginning of reform and restructuring in the Soviet Union, the agreement on Intermediate Nuclear Forces, the Soviet decision to withdraw from Afghanistan.
But it is because others have followed the same path and the same principles that we have pioneered. [end p7] And I hope that your visit will take both our countries further down that path, because I passionately believe it is the right way.
We have also talked about the tremendous changes taking place within Hungary in which I know that you personally have been very much involved. [end p8]
Hungary has been a leader among the Socialist countries in introducing economic and social reform and we admire you for it. I believe you are finding that the more you free up an economy the better it performs: that has been our experience in the United Kingdom and I hope you will persevere. [end p9]
I have had very interesting talks over the past year with some of the leading scientists and economists from the Soviet Union and they too are now moving in that same direction, even though not—or not yet—in such a flexible and original way as Hungary.
Your country has a splendid history of individual achievement in every field—in [end p10] art, in music, in literature and in science—anything which fosters individual initiative and enterprise must surely succeed. And an economy with greater market freedoms will surely provide the best long-term basis for your prosperity.
One of your most eminent Statesmen of an earlier age, Count Szechenyi, [end p11] wrote in his diary: “the Germans write a lot, the French say a lot, and the English do a lot” .
I can promise that Britain will do a lot to help you. Our companies—particularly in the field of high technology—are among the most efficient and competitive in the world and [end p12] well able to share in modernising your economy.
We shall try to be helpful when your programmes are discussed in the World Bank and IMF.
We want to see your negotiations with the European Community succeed and will do what we can for that. [end p13]
We also want to see as much as possible in the way of exchanges between Britain and Hungary. Very good contacts have been established between the Royal Society—of which I am proud to be a member—and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and there is more and more practical co-operation in every area—because that is what the people concerned want. [end p14] Government can provide the framework, but people must take the opportunities of their own free will and I am very glad to see they are doing so.
Prime Minister, we are delighted that you have come to see us. When one of your colleagues came a few years ago, he reminded me of a Chinese proverb: “it is better to see something [end p15] once than hear it a thousand times” . We hope that by seeing us and our country, you will go home convinced of our goodwill for Hungary, of our wish to see your people prosper and succeed in their own way and of our desire for peace.
I ask all our guests to rise and drink a toast with me to you, Prime Minister, to the Hungarian people and the relations between Britain and Hungary.