House Speaker László Kövér met his Egyptian counterpart Hanafi Gebali in Parliament on Wednesday.
Kövér said Hungary considers Egypt a key strategic partner in the Middle Eastern and North African regions with which it can maintain close cooperation as countries pursuing a foreign policy based on sovereign and national interests, adding that the two countries were bound by their religious and cultural tolerance and respect for traditions and families. Kövér said Hungary appreciated Egypt’s role in stabilising the North African region, underlining that Europe’s security began with North Africa. He said the world was facing a dangerous situation unlike any it had encountered before, adding that the world’s leading politicians were unaware of this danger, and countries like Egypt and Hungary had to aim to have a bigger influence on global developments than the more powerful countries. Parliament’s press office cited Gebali as saying that Egypt had made strenuous efforts to put a complete stop to the illegal migration waves heading towards Europe. He asked Hungary to support the recognition of and financial compensation for this scheme by the European Union during its upcoming presidency of the Council of the EU.
Kövér praised the two countries’ economic relations, underlining that Hungarian exports to Egypt had grown 1.5-fold and bilateral trade turnover had more than doubled over more than a decade. Kövér and Gebali hailed their countries’ cooperation in agriculture, the defence industry and tourism and the manufacturing of joint Hungarian-Egyptian rolling stock as “success stories”. As regards the Russia-Ukraine war, the speakers said both their countries urged an immediate ceasefire and political talks. Gebali also said Egypt was making every possible effort to bring an end to the armed conflict in the Gaza Strip, and asked for Hungary’s help in this, noting that it enjoyed good relations with both the Arab states and Israel.