“The Eastern Partnership will be important in the new world order following the coronavirus pandemic”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó emphasised on his Facebook page on Thursday afternoon.

In the video, Mr. Szijjártó said that on Thursday EU foreign ministers has held talks within the framework of a video conference with the six countries involved in the Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

“As a result of the global pandemic, nothing in the world will be like it was before, and this is equally true for both political and economic issues. In this new world order, the distribution of power is for the moment uncertain, and the European Union will also be forced to compete. It is also in Hungary’s interests for the EU to acquire as strong a position as possible, and this requires allies and external partners. This is one of the reasons why Hungary is supporting the Eastern Partnership policy”, the Minister explained.

Mr Szijjártó noted that in the recent period the EU “has only spoken” about the importance of the Eastern Partnership, but no tangible steps have been taken. Four concrete proposals were put forward following Thursday’s videoconference. One is that Moldova must be given the previously promised financial support. Secondly, the comprehensive partnership agreement must be concluded with Azerbaijan, particularly in view of the fact that Azerbaijan is continuously increasing the extraction of it natural gas stocks, and accordingly it will be playing an important role in Europe’s energy supply in future. Additionally, Hungary is calling for the lifting of sanctions against Belarus, and that Georgia’s approach towards NATO is not blocked.

Mr. Szijjártó also mentioned that bilateral negotiations are continuously ongoing with Ukraine on returning the rights that have been stripped from Hungarians living in Transcarpathia, and with relation to the fact that during the course of Ukraine’s territorial administration reform the Beregszász (Berehove) region should continue to have Beregszász as its centre, with as large a ratio of Hungarians as possible.

The Minister highlighted that over the past two years Hungary has assisted the countries of the Eastern Partnership with some 25 million dollars within the framework of 160 different development programs, and is affording students from the Eastern Partnership countries  460 scholarship places each year to study in Hungary. “In addition, the Eastern Partnership is also important to the countries of the Visegrád Group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the V4). The four countries are jointly providing 12 million euros in funding and 1700 semesters of scholarships to the countries of the Eastern Partnership”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)