Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungarian-American ties would enter "a new dimension", a kind of "golden age", with the inauguration of Donald Trump in January.
Speaking at a business forum organized by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Budapest on Wednesday, Minister Szijjártó said Hungary-US ties had reached a "low point" in recent years. With the re-establishment of mutual respect, there could be a "great advance" in bilateral relations, he added.
He pointed to the impact of sanctions policies on the European economy, arguing that they had hurt Europe more than the Russians, and said an end to the war in Ukraine would be in Europe's best interest.
"Many among us hoped for big change thanks to American voters and victory by the pro-peace candidate....We're very pleased with the outcome," he added.
He augured big geopolitical changes as a result of Trump's win, impacting US ties with the EU and Hungary, too. He said partners in the European Union would have to face "a new reality" and grasp that a protracted war would cause the situations of Ukraine and the EU to worsen further. There is no solution for the conflict on the battlefield, he added.
He said that the remaining two months of the Biden presidency were "extraordinarily dangerous" and warned that the pro-war side would work "to make achieving peace more difficult or practically impossible".
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary would not support new EU sanctions extending to Russia's energy sector.
Minister Szijjártó noted that some 1,200 US-owned companies in Hungary employed several hundred thousand people. Agreements have been reached recently with US-owned companies on investments with a value of several billion dollars, he added.