The foreign minister said blockades and sanctions are “futile in terms of meeting their own goals”, while they will “cause difficulties to people who have nothing to do with the causes”.
Speaking in Havana, Péter Szijjártó said that the peoples of Europe and Cuba were now facing such difficulties. Coping with difficulties arising from the war in Ukraine, high inflation, erratic food supplies and waves of migration requires “restoring international politics to a basis of mutual respect” while “the age of sanctions and blocades should be replaced by an era of dialogue”, he said. Sanctions and blocades have often proved to be “more painful for those introducing them”, Szijjártó said, adding that Hungary supported lifting the US blocade against Cuba. Hungary, alongside with the other European Union members, votes each year in support of a United Nations decree aimed at removing the blocade, he noted. The Hungarian economy could “profit a lot” from cooperation with Cuba, Szijjártó said, adding that the country was in need of highly developed farming, food processing and water management technologies. Talks are under way on joint projects in poultry and swine processing as well as natural disaster management, he added. Szijjártó also noted a broad cooperation in higher education, with special regard to agricultural studies, adding that cooperation would be extended to medicine and the health industry. Erlier on Wednesday, Szijjártó was received by President Miguel Díaz-Canel. He is scheduled to meet Bruno Rodriguez, his Cuban counterpart, and Rodrigo Malmierca, the minister of foreign trade and investment.