“Hungary is supporting the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister for the post of President of the United Nations General Assembly”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Monday.

Mr. Szijjártó will be holding talks at the UN Headquarters in New York with one of the candidates for the post of President of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador María Fernanda Espinosa.

“Hungary is taking the UN resolutions on sustainable development seriously, and accordingly in July it will be preparing a voluntary report on progress within the field, focussing primarily on water and water management, in view of the fact that there is worldwide demand for Hungarian water and water management know-how”, the Minister explained. “In addition, water and access to water will be one of the most critical issues throughout the world in the upcoming period, and will also significantly influence peace and security”, he pointed out.

“Hungary is capable of providing technological solutions that can help water be the progenitor of peace, not wars”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister stressed.

“Hungary is supporting the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister as the next President of the United Nations General Assembly, with whom we would like to come to an agreement regarding the fact that there should continue to be a Hungarian colleague among the staff of the Chairman of General Assembly”, he said. “In addition, Hungary believes it is important to increase the role of the General Assembly in view of the fact that it is a legitimate body in which all member states are present, and accordingly Hungary will continue to provide funding towards the operations of the UN President’s office”, he added.

Mr. Szijjártó told the press he will also be holding meetings with the President of the General Assembly and with the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

While in New York, the Hungarian Foreign Minister will also be holding talks with representatives of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), with relation to which he stressed: “Hungary remains committed to the establishment of a fair and balanced approach to Israel in international political life”. “We have always rejected all biased and one-sided criticism and standpoints with relation to Israel, and this will continue to be the case in future”, he said, adding: “Generating hysteria in international public life with relation to Israel in no way facilitates the Middle-Eastern peace process”.

“We only support proposals that truly help to achieve progress in the Middle Eastern peace process”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.

In addition, he will be proudly reporting to the AJC’s leaders on the fact that Hungary is continuing to maintain a policy of zero tolerance with relation to anti-Semitism, in addition to which the Hungarian Government is not only doing a lot to assist Jewish communities within the country’s borders, but also outside them, a good example of which is the financing of the renovation of the synagogue in Subotica (Szabadka, Serbia) from the Hungarian state budget, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said in the statement.

(MTI)