Hungarian foreign minister meets with with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin in Budapest

Budapest, February 24 (MTI) – If there is any country that is interested in Ukraine being politically and economically strong, with peace throughout its area, then it is Hungary, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday.

It is a basic interest that the sides involved in the conflict should make every effort to fully enforce the Minsk Agreement on Ukraine, he said after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin in Budapest. It is also a precondition for discontinuing the current policy of sanctions, which is in everybody’s interest because it damages not only the countries targeted, he added.

It is in Hungary’s interest to continue to strengthen relations in every area with Ukraine, Szijjártó said, adding that the security of the 150,000-strong Hungarian community was for Hungary equally important.

Szijjártó noted Hungary’s support for Ukraine’s European integration efforts and the lifting of the visa regime, as well as its support expressed as member of the Visegrad Four grouping for reforms in the neighbouring country.

The war in Ukraine has posed security risks, seriously damaged the economy and brought about a decline in bilateral trade with Hungary to half over the past two years, he added.

Szijjártó said Hungary has so far contributed 2.3 billion forints (EUR 7.41m) in assistance to the Transcarpathian region and provided aid worth another 230 million forints to other regions in Ukraine.