Hungarian FM Szijjártó: Energy security must be protected from unilateral actions at UN Assembly
Hungary’s foreign minister said in New York on Thursday that the international community had to make sure that no country takes unilateral steps putting the safe energy supply of another country at risk.
The foreign ministry cited Péter Szijjártó as saying at the UN General Assembly’s session focusing on sustainable energy that meeting the radically increasing global demand for electricity was one of the world’s important challenges today. He underlined that the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes guaranteed a “good platform” for East-West cooperation, noting the expansion of Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant as an excellent example of cooperation among several countries.
Hungary rejects all initiatives which are aimed at negative discrimination against nuclear energy which lack any scientific approach, any kind of fact-based approach, he said, calling them “clearly and purely ideological attacks”. He noted that Hungary was investing in increasing nuclear capacity in a way to guarantee a safe supply of electricity, ensure low energy prices, protect the environment and make Hungary independent and protected against the volatility of international energy markets.
“Hungary rejects and considers it totally unacceptable if any country makes unilateral steps to interfere in the composition of the energy mix of another country…or puts the safe energy supply of another country at risk,” he said, adding that “all countries must refrain from such steps”. “The safe supply of energy is a matter of national security, and matter of national sovereignty as well,” said the minister. Unilateral steps by any country putting the safe energy supply of another country at risk should be considered as an attack on national sovereignty,” he added.
He called it highly important that the international community makes sure that no country makes unilateral steps putting the safe energy supplies of another country at risk.
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UN Counter-Terrorism Office in Budapest to expand Hungarian staff under new agreement
The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism in Budapest will employ further Hungarian experts under a recently signed agreement, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday.
In a Facebook post, the minister noted his Thursday talks with Vladimir Voronkov, UN’s under-secretary-general for counter-terrorism, and said a threat of terrorism was facing people in a number of places across the world, mentioning the Sahel in Africa, Syria in the Middle East, and Pakistan and Afghanistan in Asia. Terrorism, he added, had become a global challenge, affecting regions that had so far been considered safe. “The UN’s most important task should be a successful fight against terrorism,” Szijjártó said.
The UN centre in Budapest currently employs 28 people, including 8 Hungarians, he said, adding that the office was serving more and more functions, including monitoring the international movements of terrorists and coordinating actions to thwart such activities. Under the new agreement, one-third of the UN facility’s staff will be Hungarian, Szijjártó said.
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