“Hungary does not wish to take part in the adoption process of the global compact for migration ongoing in the UN in any respect, and does not regard it as applicable to itself in any way whatsoever”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó confirmed on Friday in New York during his negotiations on the sidelines of the high-level meeting of the UN General Assembly.

As he explained in a statement to public media, he personally explained this to UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinoza Garcés.

“On the grounds that Europe’s response to the migration crisis is a total failure, but the response provided by Hungary and the countries of Central Europe is successful, forcing the package through is the worst thing that the UN can possibly do”, the Minister declared, pointing out that the adoption process of the new regulations is still ongoing in the UN.

“The Global Compact will lead to an escalation of the global migration situation and will represent another incentive for millions of people to set out, risk their lives, and pay out millions of dollars to people smugglers”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

He declared that the package is founded on an untrue fundamental principle, and seems to declare that migration is a fundamental human right, whereas in fact it is not. “It is a fundamental human right for someone to be able to live in peace in their own homeland, and if there is an obstacle to this then protection must be afforded to them in the first safe country possible”, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó’s programme for Friday included a total of twelve bilateral meetings, and bilateral agreements were concluded with three negotiating partners. Further education cooperation agreements were signed enabling 200 Mongolian students and 25 young people from Uruguay to study at Hungarian universities within the state scholarship programme.

“There is an ever-increasing interest in Hungarian higher education, and this indicates that the quality of higher education is dynamically improving”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. “Hungarian higher education is regarded as among the best in Europe today, and there is a huge level of oversubscription for scholarship places in every country with which we have concluded an agreement”, he added.

The Foreign Minister also signed an agreement on diplomacy and visa-free travel with his Angolan counterpart.

(MTI)