Speaking after his meeting with Juansher Burchuladze, his Georgian counterpart, in Budapest on Friday, Hungarian Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky reaffirmed Hungarian support for Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration. Hungary will have a chance to promote Georgia’s aspirations for Western integration when it assumes the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of next year, Szalay-Bobrovniczky added.
The minister also outlined that after his visit to Tbilisi earlier this summer, the Friday meeting was an opportunity to further boost cooperation between the two nations. He highlighted that Hungary and Georgia’s cultural similarities make the bilateral dialogue easier. Both nations speak a unique language, have a ‘closed culture’, are committed to the values of Christianity, he noted. Szalay-Bobrovniczky also briefed the press on the specific issues he and the Georgian defence minister had discussed, which included the war in Ukraine. According to the minister, they agreed that it was a drawn-out bloody conflict that carried a risk of escalation.
He called Georgia a ‘grandmaster of peace’,
and voiced his government’s support for the territorial integrity and independence of the Caucasian country. Georgia was capable of preserving peace, despite of being in conflict with its neighbour, which was also Hungary’s primary goal when the Russo-Ukrainian war broke out, he added, stressing the importance of peace negotiations.
Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that he and Burchuladze also discussed possibilities regarding bilateral military and security policy cooperation. Hungarian and Georgian troops are both present in each other’s training exercises, he remarked, adding that he had also briefed Burchuladze on the military and economic opportunities in terms of the defence industry investments being undertaken in Hungary.
Minister Burchuladze said that he hoped the Friday meeting would help elevate the cooperation between Georgia and Hungary to the next level.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/MTI
