“NATO member states bordering Russia mainly concentrate on the Russian threat, but the defensive alliance must also monitor challenges from the South and the immigration crisis caused by the North African and Middle Eastern regions”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary László Szabó stated on Tuesday in Bucharest at a ministerial meeting of Central and Eastern European NATO member states.

Following the meeting, which was held behind closed doors, Mr. Szabó told Hungarian public media: “Progress has been made since the first regional NATO summit in Bucharest last year; more and more countries are realising the threat of migration and practically everyone now recognises the essential importance of protecting external borders, which Hungary has been saying for years”.

“Immigration and economic migration also increases the threat of terrorism, and accordingly the defensive alliance must concentrate not only on the Russia-NATO border, but also on stopping the wave of migration. NATO is now making a major effort to handle the migration crisis on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea”, the Parliamentary State Secretary pointed out.

“It is also important that NATO and the European Union should not cancel out or duplicate each other’s efforts, but should help each other in a complementary manner”, Mr. Szabó said.

The meeting in Bucharest was also attended by NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller, who according to Mr. Szabó made a clear effort to maintain a balance and take into account and the requirements of every NATO member state. However, the nine countries taking part in the meeting and the NATO Deputy Secretary General all agreed that the balanced approach that has recently gained ground within NATO and the shifting of power in an eastern direction was a historic process.

With regard to Hungary’s contribution to joint security, Mr. Szabó said that Hungary is increasing its defence spending by 0.1 percent of its GDP every year to almost double it over a ten-year period. Hungary also plays a significant role in Afghanistan and Iraq. “The first of eight advanced control centres designed to reinforce NATO’s eastern wing will open in Hungary in Szekesfehervar within the next few days, and the above all proves that Hungary is a good partner to NATO and demonstrates its commitment to cooperation with the EU and NATO”, Parliamentary State Secretary László Szabó highlighted.

The participants of the regional NATO summit being held in Bucharest with the participation of Romania, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bulgaria, were also officially received by Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

(MTI)