Hungary provides diplomatic and economic support for the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina that may be summed up in six points, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told the Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone on the occasion of his visit to Sarajevo on Thursday.

The Minister arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina together with Croatian Foreign Minister Davor Ivo Stier in order to meet with his Bosnian counterpart, Igor Crnadak, and to have talks with the three-member Presidency, Prime Minister and several Ministers of the country.

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Mr Szijjártó stated: Hungary is fundamentally interested in the stability and peace of the Western Balkans, and it therefore gives rise to major concern for Budapest that there are more and more reports about increasingly serious conflicts and tensions from the Western Balkans, and in particular, from Bosnia and Herzegovina. „As Bosnia and Herzegovina is only 100 kilometres away from Hungary, the possible development of instability in the country or the emergence of tensions poses a direct threat to Hungary”, the Foreign Minister explained. He added that, for this reason, one of the important aspirations of Hungarian foreign policy is to help Bosnia maintain stability, peace and calm.

Mr Szijjártó took the view that the conflicts between nations and ethnic groups that fundamentally stem from the past can be best managed with economic development and the acceleration of the process of European integration. „If we do not help Bosnia in these processes, there will be an increased risk that these conflicts and tensions may escalate in this country, and if this were the case, that could also result in the destabilisation of the entire Western Balkans region which would pose a direct and major security threat to Hungary”, he added.

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Brussels accepted Sarajevo’s EU accession request, and has already sent the first relevant questionnaire to the Bosnian Government. This heralds the beginning of the most important stage of the Bosnians’ pre-accession talks, Mr Szijjártó pointed out, which requires intensive and complex work, and Hungary would like to help the Western Balkans state in its efforts.

Budapest will therefore send a Hungarian diplomat with experience in the accession process to the Bosnian Foreign Ministry in order to assist the Bosnians’ integration process. „This is now a well-established practice as there are Hungarian accession diplomats working at the Serbian, Montenegrin and Macedonian Foreign Ministries as well”, Mr Szijjártó said. Additionally, Hungary is maintaining its significant involvement in the EU’s peacekeeping forces in Bosnia. As regards the number of soldiers participating in the mission, Hungary has the third largest contingent in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At present, 163 soldiers are taking part in the mission, and the deputy commander, too, is Hungarian.

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From an economic point of view, the Hungarian Government helps Sarajevo on four important points, the Foreign Minister pointed out. In the interest of eliminating the damage that was caused by the enormous flood in 2014 and preventing further floods, Hungary will launch and finance four programmes to the value of HUF 15 million in total. Hungary will additionally contribute HUF 4 million to the construction of a religious dialogue centre, which was an initiative of the Mostar Franciscan Order. Mr Szijjártó drew attention to the fact that there are several religions living side by side in the Western Balkans country, and the maintenance of a balanced dialogue among them is a security interest.

The memorandum of understanding which Mr Szijjártó and Minister of Transport and Communication Ismir Jusko will sign on Thursday with respect to airline services between the two countries, too, will contribute to the reinforcement of economic relations and the economic development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to this agreement, Wizz Air will launch its direct service between Budapest and Sarajevo as of 5 April.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)