Hungarian foreign minister discusses migration with Palestinian counterpart

Jerusalem, November 17 (MTI) – Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Tuesday met his Palestinian counterpart, Riyad al-Maliki, in Ramallah, to discuss Europe’s migration crisis and the situation in the Middle East.

Speaking to MTI after his talks with al-Maliki, Szijjarto said it was “shocking and astonishing” that certain European politicians had failed to draw the right conclusions from last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris and that they have “still failed to grasp” that uncontrolled borders and the uncontrolled inflow of migrants has been detrimental to Europe’s security.

Szijjarto said it was shocking that EU leaders “cannot imagine” that leaving the continent’s borders unchecked will mean that hundreds of thousands of more people will enter Europe illegally, putting the safety of Europeans at even greater risk. “Europe’s security will deteriorate even further if we stick to the open borders policy,” he said.

The two ministers agreed that the migration crisis needs to be tackled at its roots and that the instability in Europe’s surrounding regions was the result of bad decisions in foreign policy. These decisions must be corrected and Europe’s surrounding regions stabilised, they said.

Addressing the situation in the Middle East, Szijjarto reiterated that Hungary supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he said must be achieved through diplomacy.

Szijjarto and al-Maliki also discussed bilateral ties, with the Hungarian minister stressing the importance of developing economic relations. He said Budapest would organise a Hungarian-Palestinian business forum early next year, with the Palestinian delegation headed by the foreign minister.

Szijjarto said Hungary will support food industry companies doing business in Palestine, as the country is looking to expand its sources of food imports.

The Hungarian minister announced that the government would raise the number of scholarship places available for Palestinian students looking to study at Hungarian universities to 50.

Szijjarto is scheduled to conclude his visit to Israel and the Palestinian National Authority by meeting President Mahmoud Abbas and laying a wreath at the grave of late leader Yasser Arafat.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters