Hungary's foreign minister has said that the security of the Middle East and Africa are closely linked to Europe’s security.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said there continues to be a high level of instability in these regions, and this threatens to give rise to new waves of immigration in the future.
Minister Szijjártó made the comments during a press conference held in the recess of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday. The minister announced that the fight against the Islamic State jihadist organization was going well, but terrorism was reorganizing itself in other ways.
“The situation confirms the correctness of our existing policies; all encouragement of migration must be avoided because it represents a danger to Europe, and to both countries of origin and transit countries," Minister Szijjártó said. “Neither the Middle East nor Africa want huge numbers, hundreds of thousands of people to travel through countries, because that can give rise to even greater instability," he added.
The minister stressed that help must be taken to where there is trouble, and accordingly Hungary is providing all possible assistance to economic development programs. "In addition, the EU must provide real assistance within the field of border security, as well as supporting Christian communities and increasing its peacekeeping activities in the region," he said.
The minister also pointed out that Hungary is contributing significant forces to peacekeeping missions, and the government is considering how it could further increase its role in the peacekeeping mission in Mali in future.