Parliament’s Hungarian-American friendship group meets with US embassy officials

The role of parliamentary diplomacy is gradually increasing in Hungarian-American relations, Zsolt Németh, head of the Hungarian-American friendship group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), said on Wednesday.

Speaking to MTI after a meeting between parliament’s Hungary-US friendship group and US embassy officials in Budapest, Németh said

the talks between the group and US Ambassador David B. Cornstein and six other diplomats had demonstrated that bilateral ties were characterised primarily by cooperation and dialogue.

Acknowledging that there were disagreements between the two countries, Németh said

the two sides had discussed the issue of the Russia-based International Investment Bank (IIB) as well as the changes in the activities of Hungary’s foreign mission in Syria.

He stressed that Hungary has not closed its embassy in Syria, and the diplomatic mission which had relocated to Beirut in 2012 would now return to Damascus.

Concerning bilateral ties, Németh said “we have witnessed a spectacular political breakthrough over the past year”, pointing out that “high-level political dialogue” had been restored between Hungary and the United States.

As regards security policy, he said

Hungary’s ties with NATO were “the strongest link” between Hungary and the US, adding that the military alliance had recently “found its identity again”.

Source: mti