Hungarian president: “Bolsonaro and I are ambassadors of peace”

President Katalin Novák met Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, declaring: “President Bolsonaro and I are ambassadors of peace.” The war in Ukraine, bilateral cooperation, aid to persecuted Christians and family policy were among topics on the agenda for talks between President Katalin Novák, and her Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia.

“Brazil is a peace-loving country which has not seen war in the past 100 years, and everyone wants this to remain so,” Novak told the press after talks with the Brazilian president. “We’d like Hungary, too, to be untouched by war,” she said.

Bolsonaro said his main ambition was to protect family values, press freedom and democracy. He added that he had discussed with Novak trade issues, future cooperation and economic relations. The Brazilian president said relations were developing steadily, including in the context of the defence industry.

“Some 100,000 Hungarians live among us, and we are a country where we all live in peace,” he said. Referring to the war in Ukraine, Bolsonaro said he had spoken at length with President Putin. “The truth sometimes hurts, but there’s no alternative to peaceful coexistence,” Bolsonaro said.

Bolsonaro said Novák’s visit was a “great honour”,

adding that Hungary and Brazil had common interests such as defending the home country, as well as protecting families and promoting freedom.

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Novák and Bolsonaro agreed on the necessity of an early peace agreement in Ukraine, Novák said in a press statement after the talks. She added that both parties offered their mediation to talks between Russia and Ukraine.

She noted that the war has been going on for 138 days. “We condemn the attack, but at the same time we consider peace to be most important,” Novák said, adding that she had asked her Brazilian counterpart to use his country’s influence to help bring the war to an end as soon as possible.

Novák noted cooperation with Brazil in the areas of farming, food production and water management, as well as joint efforts to help persecuted Christian communities across the world, a new area of cooperation.

Novák emphasised that her visit to Brazil is her first foreign trip outside Europe as president, underlining the importance of bilateral cooperation. Brazil is an important partner and the two countries are strengthening their diplomatic and economic ties as well as cooperation in science and education, she said. She noted that Hungary has purchased two military transport aircraft from Brazil, to be put into service next year. Concerning family policy, Novák said that like the rest of the developed world, Brazil was also starting to see a drop in the birth rate and marriages. She welcomed Bolsonaro’s commitment to supporting traditional families.

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“We’re doing the same thing in Hungary, and this has delivered tangible results,” Novak said, arguing that the number of marriages had doubled while the number of abortions had fallen by half and more couples were committed to becoming parents. “Hungarians and Brazilians know that our future lies in the support of our children and traditional families,” Novák said. “We agree that the mother is a woman and the father a man.”

“We stand with families and persecuted Christians, but we say no to mass migration because we can see its harmful effects,” she added.

Source: MTI