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“Over the past few months, we have succeeded in laying stable foundations for a new golden age in U.S.-Hungarian relations. Since President Donald Trump took office, friendship has replaced lecturing, accusations, and stigmatization,” stated Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Wednesday in Budapest.
At a reception held to mark U.S. Independence Day, the Minister emphasized that like the United States, Hungary attaches great importance to independence.
“We are proud to belong to those countries that have had to fight repeatedly for their freedom and sovereignty. We are proud to consider ourselves a nation of freedom fighters,” he said. He then praised the decisive role played by the U.S. ambassador to Budapest in strengthening U.S.-Hungarian relations in this regard and expressed his agreement with Robert Palladino’s remark that “lecturing, recrimination, and stigmatization have now disappeared from bilateral relations.”
Since President Donald Trump took office, virtually everything in the world has changed. And that is no exaggeration, given that a revolution of common sense has begun. We Hungarians are proud to be among the standard-bearers of this revolution,”
he emphasized.
“With President Trump, the world has become safer. New wars have become shorter, and old ones seem to be running out of steam. With President Trump, terms such as peace, peace negotiations, and ceasefire can once again be used legitimately. Those who attacked us for more than three years for using these words are now using them themselves,” he continued.
He also pointed out that the governments of Hungary and the United States both place great emphasis on supporting families and strengthening traditional values.
We are also proud that yesterday we launched the largest tax reduction program on the European continent and are spending five percent of our GDP on supporting families, which puts us in a leading position among OECD countries,”
he recalled.
He also touched on issues of bilateral economic cooperation, pointing out that last year, trade turnover set a new record and that U.S. companies are the third largest investors in Hungary.
He added that over the past ten years, the state has provided support for investments by 140 U.S. companies, helping to create 20,000 jobs. In addition, he said that the government has so far signed strategic cooperation agreements with 14 American companies. The Minister also announced that a new Hungarian consulate will soon open in Boston, and that the Hungarian Government has decided to provide 9 billion HUF (around 22.5 million EUR) in support for investments by American companies in the automotive industry, electromobility, and digital research and development.
“Across the ocean, they say ‘America first.’ On this side of the ocean, we say ‘Hungary first.’ And the principles of ‘America first’ and ‘Hungary first’ give us the opportunity to raise our friendship to a level where the sky is the limit,” he said.
“God bless the wonderful nation that loves freedom and fights for freedom, the United States, and God bless the American-Hungarian friendship, for which we will continue to make tremendous efforts in the coming period,” he concluded.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Facebook/Péter Szijjártó