“We will not leave anyone behind. We will protect people living in Hungary, we will bring home the Hungarians stranded abroad, and we will reboot the economy”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared in his pre-agenda speech during Monday’s session of Parliament.
“The world’s largest and strongest countries are also facing inconceivable challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic”, the Minister emphasised. “We must prepare for a long and difficult period of defence in several areas; we must protect the health and lives of the Hungarian people, we must bring home Hungarians who have been stranded abroad in this dangerous situation, and we must reboot the Hungarian economy”, he listed.
“The success of healthcare protection depends to a major extent on whether we have sufficient equipment available”, the Minister stated. “This is not just an issue for us, but for every country, and every country in the world is currently knocking, or rather banging, on China’s door”, he said. “Hungary acted in time and concluded the necessary agreements, and the shipments have begun arriving to ensure that we have sufficient equipment available to successfully protect public health”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. “Over ten million face masks, over 2.5 million rapid tests, a hundred thousand pieces of protective clothing and face protectors, 300 thousand pairs of gloves and over two thousand respirators are arriving in Hungary”, he explained. “All this is happening in the interests of assuring that the required healthcare tasks can be performed, and to equip healthcare workers with suitable protective equipment to ensure their successful and safe work”, he pointed out.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also spoke about the fact that “the greatest Hungarian repatriation operation of the modern age” is underway in view of the fact that thousands of Hungarians have become stranded abroad as a result of the extremely strict air travel restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic. “To date, we have helped 5583 Hungarian citizens return home from various points around the world, and are working to bring home a further 2026 Hungarians”, he stated. “There are 477 Hungarians trapped in the United States and Canada, and we are sending two planes to pick them up on Tuesday”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “There are 233 Hungarians waiting to return home in Latin America and the Caribbean region, and we are also working to assist them, and since EU coordination is late, we are now working in cooperation with the countries of Central Europe”, he explained. “We are bringing Hungarians stranded in India home in cooperation with Poland, and are also bringing over 200 Hungarian energy sector workers home from Kazakhstan”, the Minister continued. “The goal is to help all Hungarians who have become stranded abroad through no fault of their own to return home”, he emphasised.
Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that in the interests of rebooting the economy we must protect the position according to which Hungary is the most attractive investment destination in Central Europe, in addition to which we must also protect the position of Hungarian enterprises that has been built up in recent years thanks to the fact that they are offering goods and services that are globally competitive. “For this reason, in view of the fact that EU regulations have become less strict, in the near future we will be introducing new funding and credit opportunities for Hungarian enterprises involved in export chains and the supply chains of large corporations”, he stated.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
