Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said on Tuesday in New York that Hungary has signed an agreement with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) on sending experts to train African professionals in detecting terrorists, with a view to curbing the threat of terrorism globally.
Following talks with Vladimir Voronkov, the Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, on the sidelines of a meeting of the UN’s Security Council, Minister Szijjártó said that Hungarian counter-terrorism and information technology experts will be involved in the work. Hungary has developed a modern system to counter the terrorists “hiding in migration waves and appearing in international passenger travel”, the ministry cited Minister Szijjártó as saying. It is important that African countries could stop terrorists from arriving there, and also they can prevent them from travelling on to Europe, Minister Szijjártó said. Fighting terrorism is one of the most important roles of the UN, besides brokering peace, Minister Szijjártó said. Budapest is home to the UNOCT Regional Programme Support Office, which is also responsible for supporting counter-terrorism in Africa, he noted. The threat of terrorism is greater today than ever before, he said. While the focus of terrorist organisations is currently Africa, the number of attacks is also growing in Afghanistan, and “growing waves of migration offer opportunities for terrorists to hide in the crowd,” he said. Hungary is also participating in a training mission in Iraq, and helps communities worldwide that are in the crosshairs of terrorists to remain in their homeland, he said.