FM Szijjártó: Hungary plays key role in global counter-terrorism efforts

Hungary is punching above its weight in the global fight against terrorism, which is also key to curbing illegal migration, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in New York on Wednesday.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, Péter Szijjártó welcomed that the department had recently become part of the UN’s regular budget. At a time when terrorism is increasingly threatening global security, keeping the office away from the regular budget had been “unfair”, he said. Hungary works together with others to achieve that goal, and is punching above its weight in the fight, as shown by the fact that the second largest headquarters of the Office of Counter-Terrorism after that in New York is in Budapest, he said. The office is supported by Hungary’s government, and is currently employing 28 people, he said.

Regional offices are key to curbing terrorists’ movements worldwide, he said. The effectiveness of that work is also highlighted by UN Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov’s proposal last year to transfer further anti-terrorism activities to Budapest, and plans to open a global support centre, Szijjártó said. Both proposals are the subject of the meeting on Wednesday, he added. “It is clearly an enormous honour that the UN is counting so greatly on Hungary in such a global security challenge, and that they want to concentrate its forces in Hungary to this extent. It shows clearly that Hungary retains its special place in global diplomacy,” Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó said that US President Donald Trump’s inauguration had been “good news” for the global fight against terrorism, adding that Trump had brought about several important agreements on the matter. He said international efforts must be multiplied, adding that terrorist organisations were focusing on Africa. “The Islamic State committed more than 1,200 terrorist attacks in Africa last year alone, while al-Kaida and its associates committed 1,700, mostly in the Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

Further, Szijjártó said terrorism and illegal migration created a vicious circle, “because the more acute the threat of terrorism, the more are forced to leave their homes, and the flood of migrants facilitates the movement of terrorists to various points of the world.” Hungary has made “incredible efforts” to protect its borders in the past decade, and has prevented the entry of almost 500,000 illegal migrants, he said.