“Hungary remains prepared to develop the country’s air defence system using American technology”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in Washington in a television interview that aired late on Saturday night Central European time.

The Minister told American Catholic news television station EWTN that the meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and U.S. President Donald Trump at the beginning of the week had resulted in nothing new with relation to defence cooperation and a prospective arms deal. “When U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Hungary at the beginning of the year, the Government had already made it clear that it would like to develop the country’s air defence system using American technology in the interests of having its most important infrastructural facilities protected by a mid-range rocket defence system that employs a higher level of technology”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

“When we refer to the purchasing of American rocket defence weapons, we are therefore referring back to what was already stated when Mike Pompeo visited Hungary”, the Minister underlined. “Now, at the May summit, the Hungarian party simply confirmed that the intent is serious, and that preparations are underway and may soon reach their final stage” he added.

Mr. Szijjártó declared that the meeting between Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán had taken place in a very friendly and informal atmosphere, explaining that in his opinion the two leaders have a very similar approach to the most serious current international problems, including migration, security policy, patriotic politics and the protection of Christian minorities.

On the subject of migration, Mr. Szijjártó said in the interview: “In Western Europe, parallel societies have already developed because of differing cultures”. “We are not talking about the mixing of communities, but about societies that exist parallel to each other”, he underlined, adding that these, however, represent a very serious security risk. “During the past four years since the beginning of the migration crisis, terrorists with immigrant backgrounds have committed 30 serious attacks in Europe claiming the lives of 300 innocent Europeans”, he said, declaring that this is unacceptable.

He also declared that in addition, in parallel societies it is the minority arriving from outside that is “louder”, and does not accept the culture and rules of the locals or live according to expected norms of behaviour.

“This is why Hungary has made it absolutely clear that it will not allow anyone to enter the country illegally, and this is why it built a fence along its southern border”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade declared.

With relation to Christian communities, Mr. Szijjártó repeated that four out of every five people who are persecuted for their religion worldwide are Christian. ”It is unacceptable that discrimination against Christians is tolerated in international political life as the last acceptable form of discrimination”, he said, citing as an example the attack in Sri Lanka during Easter, and stressing: “At political level, nobody dared state that the attacks we expressly directed against Christians and Catholics”.

Mr. Szijjártó also said that Hungarian is also providing assistance in the Middle East to enable Christians to remain at or return home. “The Government has already helped 35 thousand Christians in this manner”, he emphasised.

(MTI)