Hungarian foreign minister: Ties with Russia increasingly beneficial to Hungary

Growing economic cooperation between Hungary and Russia is increasingly beneficial to the Hungarian economy, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told public media by phone from Moscow on Monday .

Szijjártó called for continued dialogue between the EU, its member states and Russia, saying that the “imminent global trade war” warranted cooperation based on mutual respect between eastern and western Europe.

Russia was Hungary’s second largest trading partner before the EU introduced sanctions against it and they answered in kind, he said. It has since slid to 12th place, he added. Hungarian economic players lost about 7 billion dollars worth of export opportunities due to the sanctions, Szijjártó said.

Many European countries now prefer dialogue and “an honest reckoning with the effects of the sanctions” instead of their automatic prolongation, he said.

After years of backsliding, trade between the two countries grew by 30 percent to 5.5 billion dollars in 2017, he noted.