The digital economy has stable roots in Hungary, Orbán said. “Hungary is already a digital economy in the heart of Europe.

The future has already started here, and we hope Europe will also follow that road by concluding the related debates and acting in unity,” he said. In the past few years, Hungary has demonstrated it not only plans its future but makes it a reality, too, Orbán said.

In Europe, at 5%, Hungary has the lowest VAT on the internet, and a modern test centre for electric vehicles has recently been inaugurated in the southwest, he noted. Orbán said the digital economy provides some 25% of Hungarian GDP, and employs some 400,000 people, about 10% of the total workforce.

ITU Telecom World 2019, a global platform for big ICT industry players, tech SMEs, countries and organisations, runs until Thursday.

Houlin Zhao, the head of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said at the opening at Budapest’s Hungexpo fair grounds that the conference is an opportunity to reduce the digital divide.

MTI Photo: Koszticsák Szilárd