“The U.S. administration agrees with Hungary’s values-based politics”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary Levente Magyar said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI from Washington.

Mr. Magyar is on a two-day visit to the United States capital at the invitation of the largest American pro-Israel lobbying organisation, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Hungary has been taking part in the AIPAC conference for years, and at this year’s meeting the Deputy Foreign Minister gave a speech on the European Union’s migration policy in which, amongst others, he discussed whether the EU’s migration policy contributes to increasing anti-Semitism.

“People here also believe that uncontrolled migration is leading to an increase in anti-Semitism”, Mr. Magyar said. “People in the United States understand the values-based debates on the preservation of Europe’s Judeo-Christian historic and cultural identity that are being conducted on the continent prior to the European Parliament elections”, he explained in the statement. “This issue is also at the centre of debate in the United States, and Washington shares Hungary’s standpoint on protecting Judeo-Christian heritage”, Mr. Magyar stressed.

The Parliamentary State Secretary, who during the conference held talks with AIPAC President Lillian Pinkus, told the press: “Everything points to the fact that pro-Israeli American Jews agree with Hungary’s Israel policy”. “They know and appreciate the fact that Hungary has opened a foreign trade representation in Jerusalem, Israel’s historic capital. This has gained a broad level of appreciation”, Mr. Magyar stressed.

While in Washington, the Deputy Foreign Minister held talks with several officials of the U.S. administration, including White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the United State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker, and acting senior director for the Middle East at the National Security Council Victoria Coates.

With relation to the meetings, he told MTI that the parties had discussed Russia’s relationship with China and the fruitful cooperation being realised in the interests of protecting persecuted Christian communities. “We didn’t agree on everything concerning Russia’s relationship with China, but these differences of opinion are not hindering bilateral relations and continuous dialogue”, he stated.

Mr. Magyar emphasised that the American party respects the fact that “Hungary is practicing a politics that does not fall in line, but which places Hungarian interests at the forefront and only takes into account other interests to a restricted extent”. Hungarian-American relations are continuously improving, he added. “During the time of the Obama administration the cooling of relations was derived from ideological differences of opinion, the Liberal U.S. administration couldn’t get to grips with the conservative Hungarian Government’s values-based politics”, he stressed, underling the fact that in contrast, today Budapest and Washington are negotiating with each other about concrete issues and cooperation.

(MTI)