Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the Eastern Partnership is important to the European Union in the post-pandemic world. He said that in the post-pandemic world, nothing would stay the same as before, and this applied equally to politics and economics.
In a video posted on Facebook after a video conference of EU foreign ministers and their counterparts representing the six partnership countries on Thursday, Minister Szijjártó said the EU would have to withstand increased competition, and its success in this regard would be in Hungary’s interest. But in order to achieve this the EU needs third countries as partners as allies, and so far the EU has only paid lip service to the importance of the Eastern Partnership, he said.
According to MTI, the minister said four concrete proposals were made. Funding pledged to Moldova should be finally paid. Further, a comprehensive partnership agreement with Azerbaijan should be signed. Azerbaijan, whose volume of natural gas production is constantly rising, will play an important role in energy supplies, he said. Also, sanctions against Belarus should be lifted. And Georgia’s endeavours to join NATO should no longer be blocked.
Minister Szijjártó also noted continued bilateral talks with Ukraine on restoring rights to Transcarpathian Hungarians and preserving Berehove (Beregszasz) as the center of the Berehove administrative district where Hungarians form a majority.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that Hungary has provided support to six Eastern Partnership countries for 160 development projects worth USD 25 million over the past two years, and it has offered them 460 annual scholarships. The Visegrad Group also regards the Eastern Partnership as important, reflected by its provision aid worth EUR 12 million.
Photo credit: hirado.hu