Hungarian FM slams EU for ‘globalising war fallout’
The European Union’s response to the war in Ukraine has globalised the fallout from the war rather than isolating its effects, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told a meeting of the Organization of Turkic States’ economy and trade ministers in Istanbul on Thursday.
The EU has botched its response to the war, “and we can only hope that the conflict itself doesn’t become global,” he said.
Bad decisions have also hurt the cooperation between East and West, Szijjártó said. Meanwhile, the sanctions have proved to be a “total failure” which also weakened the EU’s competitiveness, he said.
“This raises the value of our observer status in the OTS, and of our cooperation with its member states,” he said.
Cooperation between the East and West is key to improving Europe’s competitiveness, and the chances for that are dwindling,” he said.
The OTS is an important “bridge” between the East and West, and its member states will become key to ensuring transport routes now that some of the traditional supply lines have become impossible, he said.
OTS member states together own the third largest depository of natural gas, and will have an important role in improving energy security, he said. Hungary’s energy security and diversification would be at peril without the Turkic states and the TurkStream pipeline, he said.
He welcomed the OTS’s new investment fund, and said that Hungary would contribute USD 100 million.
Szijjártó noted that trade between the Turkic states and Hungary surpassed USD 4 billion last year, and jumped by 2.8 percent to 2.8 billion dollars in the first half of 2023.
Turkmenistan will soon open an embassy in Hungary and the Hungarian government has made a similar decision, Szijjártó said.
The minister said Uzbekistan opened an embassy in Budapest this year and Hungary opened its embassy in Tashkent, fulfilling a commitment made in 2018 that our country should have diplomatic representation in all member states of the OTS, and vice versa.
Source: MTI
please make a donation here
Hot news
Top Hungary news: train derailed, huge tax against short-term rentals, new train stations, Hungarians about the war, Dracula, cocktail bars — 21 October, 2024
Hungarian research could yield breakthrough in Covid-19 treatment
5+1 stylish cocktail bars in Budapest to explore with your friends after a long day
Railway stations in major Hungarian cities to be completely rebuilt with private capital
Young people planning armed attacks against protected persons in Hungary – US intelligence warns
Hungary, Laos agriculture ties strengthening: Minister Linkham Duangsavanh visits Budapest
3 Comments
Hungary under Fidesz is well suited to leave the EU and join the Organization Of Turkic States instead. Good luck.
Says much about the Fidesz ageing voter constituency turning a blind eye to Hungary’s renewed alliances in former Soviet Union, pining for Kadarism and communist policies, while attacking all things west &/or liberal; how many Fidesz elites will continue to support Russian policies over the EU etc.?
Master Yoda says:
“Better a good neighbour than a distant friend”.