“Budapest is the safest and sportiest European capital”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.

The Minister gave an opening speech at an event promoting Hungary organised by the Hungarian Tourism Agency within the framework of the New York Times Travel Show.

“Thanks to the Government’s strict immigration policy, Budapest is the safest capital city in Europe, and is now directly accessible from the United States”, he emphasised. “In addition, Budapest is also the sportiest capital in view of the regular world sporting events being held there”, he said.

He said that in his opinion the fact that Europe’s largest synagogue and one of its largest Catholic cathedrals can be found within walking distance of each other is characteristic of Budapest, Hungary and the people who live here.

Reporting on his meetings in New York, the Foreign Minister told the press that he and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders had agreed that they have differing views concerning several issues relating to the future of Europe and migration. “According to Hungary, Europe must regain its capability to protect its own borders, in addition to which Hungary does not wish to allow entry to illegal immigrants”, he pointed out. “Belgium has a different opinion with relation to migration, and only regards allowing entry to immigrants as solidarity, while Hungary also regards the major efforts it has made to protect its borders and the external border of the European Union as solidarity, in view of the fact that we are taking a major burden off the shoulders of other European countries”, he added.

As he explained, the parties agreed, however, that all this can not be an obstacle to the further expansion of bilateral trade and economic relations, particularly in view of the fact that during the first 9 months of last year bilateral trade flow also reached four billion euros, an increase of 14 percent.

Mr. Szijjártó said his Belgian counterpart is standing for the post of Council of Europe Secretary General, and the parties agreed that the body must assure opportunities for consultation and dialogue between all European approaches and policy trends. “For this reason, this organisation must remain the forum of European dialogue with the participation of all European countries”, he added.

During his meeting with Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah al-Khalid al-Hamad al-Sabah, the parties discussed the fact that cooperation between the EU and the Gulf region is extremely important from both an economic and security perspective in view of the fact that the Middle East is one of the most important source regions for migration towards Europe. “Hungary is preparing to participate in foreign ministers’ meeting and summit of the EU and Arab League”, he stated.

During his meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, the parties discussed the fact that the 40-million-dollar investment project being realised in Indonesia by Budapest Waterworks is approaching completion. “The company is providing a supply of drinking water to 34 Indonesian settlements through the construction of water treatment works, and  the first five of these will be official inaugurated next months”, he explained.

Negotiations are also underway concerning supplies from Hungarian companies for the development of the Indonesian electronic road toll system, he noted.

Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that he had held a meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu. This year, Hungary will be filling the post of Chair in the UN Disarmament Committee, which is particularly important in view of the fact that America-Russian disarmament talks have failed, and according the role of the UN in keeping disarmament issues on the agenda has increased significantly.

“It in in Hungary’s interests for there to be continuous dialogue between the superpowers of East and West on this issue, because of this is not the case then it will have a negative effect on global security and the security of Central Europe”, he highlighted.

As he explained, reinforcing the UN mechanisms on the restriction of light weapons and small arms is extremely important to Hungary, because it could prevent the smuggling of the light weapons and small arms that an be found in large quantities in the Western Balkans.

During his meeting with UN Under-Secretary-General for Management Jan Beagle, Mr. Szijjártó confirmed Hungary’s intent to have Budapest take part in the diversification of the United Nations’ service functions.

The Minister noted that he had also held talks with the directors of Suez Water Technologies and Solution, which has invested 150 million dollars in Orozslány and currently employs 1200 people, and would like to further expand its activities in Hungary.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)