On Saturday Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief, informed the Hungarian news agency MTI that President of the United States Donald Trump had called Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán in relation to the new US ambassador to Hungary taking up his post in Budapest next week.

After their discussion, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told MTI that Mr. Trump had said that the new ambassador, David Cornstein, is a fine man, whose arrival in Hungary will create the opportunity for further improvement in bilateral relations.

He added that the two leaders had spoken about the importance of border defence, and that they had agreed that a country which is unable to defend its own borders can no longer remain a country at all.

The Minister said that the US president encouraged Mr. Orbán to strongly defend Hungary’s southern border. Mr. Orbán reassured the President that Hungary is committed to continuing its current migration policy and will defend its borders.

Mr. Szijjártó said that Mr. Orbán stressed the importance for Hungary of the EU regaining its competitiveness, as almost 80 per cent of Hungarian exports are to EU Member States.

(MTI)