Szijjártó: Hungary’s pro-peace approach appreciated outside Europe

The world is “waiting for peace in Ukraine”, and many countries greatly appreciate Hungary’s approach, which favours diplomatic solutions, hoping it would become the European one, the foreign minister said in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Péter Szijjártó attended the annual meeting of China’s Belt and Road initiative in Hong Kong, and held bilateral meetings with the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, the economy minister of the United Arab Emirates and Egypt’s minister for international cooperation.

After the talks, Szijjártó said “our African and Asian partners continue to ask when the European Union is going to step up for peace.”

Rather than calling for peace as it usually does in the case of conflicts further from home, the EU is now “further firing up the conflict by delivering weapons, shutting down channels of communication and through its sanctions policy,” he said.

This created a “vicious circle” of rising inflation and food and energy prices, he added.

Hungary is “perhaps the only country” to fully stand up for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, he said. Non-EU countries greatly appreciate that stance and expect it to “prevail as the generally accepted approach in Europe,” he said.

Regarding the energy crisis, Szijjártó said Hungary and its partners in Egypt and the UAE had reinforced their commitment to nuclear cooperation, including projects in training and knowledge exchange.

Hungary is seen as a friendly country in Hong Kong, “with a sovereign foreign policy that doesn’t involve lecturing others,” he said. “We have always respected China’s sovereignty and the principle of one country, two systems,” he said.

The good relations were well reflected in last year’s cooperation when trade volume reached 2.5 billion dollars. Exports to Hong Kong jumped 1.5-fold this year, the Hungarian foreign minister added.

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