On Thursday in New York Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó requested UN Secretary-General António Guterres to intervene to facilitate talks between the United States and Russia. The Hungarian foreign minister also met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov yesterday.
According to the ministry’s statement, following his meeting with the UN Secretary-General the minister stressed that the global security risks are heightened by the fact that the most significant players in world politics are either unable or unwilling to engage in dialogue.
‘We know exactly that this carries the risk of dividing the world into blocs once again, returning us to the nightmare of the Cold War, which we would do well to avoid,’ he warned.
‘I requested the UN Secretary-General to intervene to ensure that the world’s major powers, the Americans and the Russians, finally start talking to each other,’ the minister informed.
‘Without American-Russian dialogue it will not be possible to end the conflict’
Péter Szijjártó explained that the world has been living under the shadow of the war in Ukraine for nearly a thousand days, and it is evident that without American-Russian dialogue, it will not be possible to end the conflict.
He then stated that he also asked António Guterres for help in returning the UN to its founding mission, which is to serve as a platform for dialogue between countries with strained relations, or even those at war. In this context, he reminded that the United Nations was not created as a club of like-minded countries.
‘The significance of the UN for Hungary is perhaps greater now than ever before. The UN framework may offer a chance for the start of an American-Russian dialogue, which could bring new hope for global security and, within that, for the security of Central Europe,’ Péter Szijjártó concluded.
The Hungarian foreign minister also had a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In a Facebook post Minister Szijjártó said:
‘Russia will always be part of Central-European reality, therefore we cannot afford to give up on keeping the channels of communication open. Sergei Lavrov and Russian diplomats have always done their best to comply with the requests of the Hungarian government, and have been open to resolving important issues. This is demonstrated by Russian flexibility in the securing oil supplies, which is indispensable for Hungarian energy security.’
Related articles:
