Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Friday said he had held phone talks with Gebran Bassil, the head of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement, and Hassoumi Massoudou, his Nigerian counterpart.
Szijjártó said in a Facebook post that he had congratulated Bassil on Lebanon’s successful elections and on his party remaining the largest Christian bloc in the Beirut parliament. Lebanon’s stability and security is crucial for peace in the Middle East, Szijjártó said, adding that
the local Christian community could continue to count on Hungary’s support when it comes to the renovation of churches and schools.
Meanwhile, Szijjártó discussed the importance of the security of West Africa’s Sahel region with his Nigerian counterpart.
“If things aren’t going well there then masses of immigrants will set off towards Europe,”
Szijjártó said.
“Hungary is committed to helping establish and maintain security in the region, in the interest of our own security and calm as well,” he said.
Szijjártó also said the planned European mission in Mali had been rendered impossible, even though the Hungarian Armed Forces would have contributed 80 soldiers to it.
He added that he and Massoudou had discussed other ways Hungary could contribute to the region’s security. Massoudou welcomed the offer and the two countries will discuss the details of their cooperation in the future, Szijjártó said.
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Source: MTI
1 Comment
Somehow, it seems a little bit odd (to me), that the ONLY reason (that we are told of) FM Szijjártó would call his Nigerian counterpart was to discuss that region’s “security” ;), especially when Hungary has a war just next door.
With that in mind, I wonder just how many of us are aware that Nigeria is the 12th largest producer of petroleum in the world, the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves, as well as the 10th larges exporter of natural gas (Hungary is 38th). Hmmm, makes me wonder what else might have been discussed, and if in the near future we’ll be reading that FM Szíjjárto had, or will have, discussions with his Qatari counterpart (3rd largest exporter of natural gas, and oil of course). Then there is Sudan for oil, Malaysia (for oil and natural gas ) and etc. 🙂
Of one thing I’m sure he did not explicitly express in his call, is to say, “let us co-operate with regards to your country’s security so that we, in Hungary, won’t see any of you citizens turning up at our border”. Sly, à la Orbán. N’est pas?
Furthermore, I wonder how much natural gas Hungary would have to import IF it were stop exporting it’s own?