The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), comprising 43 European, Middle-Eastern and North-African countries, held its high-level level meeting and second Regional Forum on 23-24 January in Barcelona. Hungary was represented by Deputy State Secretary Szilveszter Bus at the event.
The Hungarian economy has sustained a loss of some USD 6.5 billion due to the sanctions implemented against Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated in an interview published in the Tuesday issue of the newspaper Kommersant which the Russian news agency TASS also covered.
Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér led the Hungarian delegation at the “Vienna Future Dialogue” conference on 23 January 2017. The other members of the delegation included the Ministry of Interior’s Deputy State Secretary for EU and International Affairs Mátyás Hegyaljai and National Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Károly Papp. The Interior Minister’s entourage was joined in Vienna by Hungary’s Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Austria János Perényi.
“The strategic cooperation agreement between the Hungarian Government and Bank of China has opened a totally new chapter in Hungarian-Chinese economic cooperation”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary, László Szabó, and Chairman of Bank of China Ltd. Mr. Tian Guoli said at a press conference in Budapest.
The Hungarian Government and Bank of China have concluded a strategic cooperation agreement; the document was signed on Monday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Parliamentary State Secretary László Szabó and Chairman of Bank of China Ltd. Mr. Tian Guoli, in the presence of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
In Moscow on Monday, prior to his talks with Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that, after a very long period, international processes seem to favour the development of Hungarian-Russian relations.
Hungary takes the view that, from a European viewpoint, there is an urgent need for reconciliation between the EU and Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stated at a joint press conference after his meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the head of Russian diplomacy held on Monday in Moscow.
At the Lámfalussy Conference organised by the National Bank of Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated Europe must abandon “the illusion of federalism”, and the continent must be made multipolar.
György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, has told Hungarian television channel M1 that a new fence will be built on Hungary’s southern border which will be higher and stronger than at present.
“The Honvéd Hospital in Budapest will be receiving the four seriously injured victims of Friday’s bus crash near Verona, who are expected to arrive back in Hungary on Sunday”, Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog announced.