Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó of Hungary held a phone call with newly confirmed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday, 26 January, the US Embassy in Budapest revealed in a press release.
According to the Embassy, Secretary Rubio stressed the importance of further strengthening cooperation between the countries on defence and energy security. The Secretary and the Foreign Minister discussed strategic engagement beyond Europe as well, namely in Latin America and with China.
After the phone call, Minister Szijjártó made a statement of his own to the Hungarian state news agency MTI as well, in which he shared other topics that have been discussed. He said that he had told Secretary Rubio that the previous administration regarded Hungary ‘as an enemy,’ and thus issued many vindictive, punitive measures against his government. In response, Secretary Rubio assured him that these measures will be reviewed by the incoming Trump administration, as part of the effort to rebuild the Hungary–US relationship.
Minister Szijjártó was referring to the case of Antal Rogán, a high-ranking official in the Orbán government, who was put on a sanctions list for unclear reasons by the US Treasury Department just weeks before President Biden and his people were leaving office.
Szijjártó also expressed his optimism that ‘a new golden age is at our doorsteps in the political relations between Hungary and the United States’ with the new administration in Washington, D.C., which has brought in ‘a new era in geopolitics’. He went on to state that ending the Russo-Ukrainian war that has been ongoing for three years ‘in our neighbourhood’ is a high priority for President Trump.
The Foreign Minister also commented on the executive actions President Trump has issued upon taking office again.
‘I welcomed the executive orders issued by President Trump this week, which are fully in line with the Hungarian government's policy on migration, on peace or war, on support for families, on respect for sovereignty, on patriotism,’ FM Szijjártó said.
Secretary Rubio, a former Senator from Florida, was confirmed by the US Senate in a unanimous, 99–0 vote last Tuesday, 21 January. While his first official trip was to the Central American nation of Panama (control over the Panama Canal is a contentious issue for President Trump) over the weekend, his phone call to FM Szijjártó at the same time shows that Hungary is also high on his priority list. Secretary Rubio also expressed his intention to meet with his Hungarian counterpart in person as well in their phone call.
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