“The cooperation between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia is testing exceptionally well during this difficult period, and accordingly the parties will be continuing and further tightening that cooperation within the field of combatting the novel coronavirus pandemic”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó emphasised following a videoconference meeting of Visegrád group (V4) foreign ministers on Wednesday.

During an online press conference held on his Facebook page, the Minister reported on the fact that the current situation is an excellent indicator of the practical advantages that go hand-in-hand with Visegrád cooperation. As an example, he mentioned the fact that the four countries are mutually assisting each other to help their citizens who have been stranded abroad return home, and the fact that Polish doctors returning from Italy are sharing their experiences with the healthcare experts of the other three countries.

The Eastern Partnership was also on the meeting’s agenda, with relation to which Mr. Szijjártó said that in his opinion the global pandemic “will redraw the global economy and global political map to an extreme extent, and this is something the European Union must also prepare for”. “We will also need allies, friends and partners outside the EU, and it is obvious that the EU should also establish closer cooperation with its Eastern neighbours”, he stated.

The Foreign Minister said the parties had agreed on the establishment of a 250-thousand-euro solidarity fund within the International Visegrád Fund to assist the six states of the Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The parties also agreed that that the Eastern Partnership Program has made little progress in the recent period, and accordingly “spectacular and drastic” measures are required, he added. For this reason, the Minister proposed the lifting of EU sanctions against Belarus, raising cooperation between NATO and Georgia “one dimension higher”, the conclusion of a new strategic agreement with Azerbaijan, and the fact that Moldova should receive the 70 million euros that the EU previously voted to provide, but which was ultimately not transferred, citing “unfair pretexts”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade / MTI)