Unless the international community is able to resolve today’s security challenges, humanity could find itself closer than ever facing a third world war, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Astana, Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Szijjártó said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will hold talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Prime Minister Älihan Smailov on Thursday, 2 November ahead of the next summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).

According to a ministry statement, Szijjártó called for seeking the possibility of peaceful resolutions.

‘If the global community cannot find peaceful resolutions to at least one or two of the current security challenges within the coming, relatively short period, then it wouldn’t be completely unrealistic to expect that we will find ourselves closer than ever to the outbreak of a third world war,’ he said.

Hungary’s interests lie in peace, he said, adding that this was the reason why the government considered it important to take part in the work of the OTS, as the

Turkic states ‘always stand by peaceful settlements and reducing the risk of escalation’.

Szijjártó noted that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had been the only politician so far to have successfully mediated between Ukraine and Russia by negotiating the Black Sea grain export deal, adding, however, that this situation ‘has also, regrettably, deteriorated’. Hungary, therefore, has an interest in an urgent peaceful settlement in Ukraine and the prevention of an interstate war in the Middle East, he highlighted.

As regards Hungarian–Kazakh relations, Szijjártó noted the progress made in energy cooperation this year, calling it the ‘best possible demonstration’ of the two countries’ strategic partnership. He said Thursday’s scheduled inauguration of a street in Astana named after 19th century Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi was a gesture that demonstrated the importance Kazakhstan attached to its cooperation with Hungary.

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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/MTI