The foreign minister said global security is facing the largest risks in 70 years, and the threat of terrorism and a third world war has never been greater.
Attending a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary continued to support the most vulnerable communities to allow them to make a living in their homelands. Hungary is set to plow 1.6 billion forints (EUR 4.3m) into supporting another 16 projects in Iraq and Syria, to help reconstruct and operate schools and hospitals, as well as important religious, welfare and humanitarian institutions, he said. Currently, 134 Hungarian troops are participating in the Coalition’s training mission in Iraq, he added. Hungary also supports the UN’s initiative to hold ISIS soldiers accountable for their crimes, he said. Those oppressing communities or committing terrorist acts should know that they will be punished for those crimes, he said. Hungarians, who are facing challenges from the East and South simultaneously, know that global security is impossible without a determined and successful stand against terrorism, he said. Minister Szijjártó noted that although ISIS “seemed to have been defeated in recent years”, the group has surfaced in various locations again and again, mostly in Africa and the Middle East. Terrorism and mass migration form a vicious circle, he said. The higher the threat of terrorism, the bigger the chance of growing migration pressure in Europe. Hungary is at the forefront of that since the Western Balkans migration route has become the primary way to travel to the EU, he said. The fight against terrorism is, therefore, a priority for Hungary, he said. Europe could not handle two security challenges at the same time, especially under the weight of the serious consequences of the war in Ukraine, he said. Threats to global security are the gravest of the past 70 years. Countries’ open references to nuclear power and terror threats are also the strongest in 70 years, he said. A victory against terrorist organizations is key to ensuring peace in Hungary’s eastern neighbor and to warding off migration pressure in the south, Szijjártó said.