Ministerial council of the OSCE: Hungary urges closer US, EU, Central Asia cooperation

Berlin, December 8 (MTI) – The US, Europe and Central Asia need to strive for closer cooperation to utilise opportunities of a “new world order”, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday.

Speaking in Hamburg in the ministerial council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Szijjártó said that such cooperation would facilitate utilisation of new economic opportunities and help tackle new challenges.

Among the new challenges, Szijjártó mentioned terrorism, which follows “uncontrolled, unregulated and illegal mass migration and religious extremism.” To combat this threat, Szijjarto said North America, Europe and Central Asia need to carry out five crucial tasks.

The first task is defeating the Islamic State (IS) militant group. The second is restoring the stability of the regions liberated from under IS rule to prevent another terrorist group from coming to power, Szijjártó said.

The third involves the protection of Christian communities throughout the world. The minister said the international community must not allow discrimination against Christians to become “an accepted form of discrimination”.

Fourth, North America, Europe and Central Asia must agree to help regions where help is needed rather than importing problems from those regions. Instead of encouraging people to migrate from their homes, the international community should help war-torn Middle Eastern countries look after refugees there.

The fifth task is a restructuring of the international aid distribution system, he said. Szijjarto proposed that sending and transit countries should only receive aid if they can implement reforms that will prevent their people from fleeing.

Finally, countries should stop “accusing” and “insulting” one another, Szijjártó said. All countries should respect each other’s culture, heritage and history, the minister said.

Source: MTI