Parliamentary State Secretary László Szabó from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of State Michael Roth of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany met on Tuesday to discuss prevailing issues relating to Hungarian-German bilateral relations, important topics on the agenda of the European Union and current diplomatic issues, the Hungarian Ministry stated.

The German Minister of State thanked Hungary for its contribution to German reunification 25 years ago, while László Szabó welcomed the dynamic development of bilateral economic and trade relations, the statement said.

Minister of State Roth emphasised that Germany remains Hungary’s most important trade partner, with trade turnover showing a growing tendency, and Germany is the country’s number one foreign investor. In addition, Parliamentary State Secretary Szabó reported on Hungarian foreign policy priorities and the government structure that supports them.

According to the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in reply to a query from his German colleague, Mr. Szabó also briefed Minister of State Roth on the results of the investigation performed by the Government Control Office in relation to the Norwegian Civil Fund. László Szabó told the German Minister of State that “There can be no doubt that Hungary is governed by the rule of law and is committed to democracy”, and accordingly it rejects all allusions to the contrary. “No state has been investigated so many times in this regard by EU institutions in recent years, and subsequently found to be compliant, than Hungary”, the Ministry’s statement says.

At the meeting, the parties welcomed the results of last week’s session of the European Council, and primarily the successful agreement with relation to the climate and energy package. With relation to Ukraine, they stressed the importance of the implementation of the Minsk Agreement and Memorandum in the interests of assuring a long-term political solution to the crisis, the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade reads.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)