Foreign Minister in Talks with his Russian Counterpart Sergey Lavrov

Péter Szijjártó (R) with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in New York on Tuesday, during which the two sides discussed the war in Ukraine and bilateral cooperation.

After his meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the minister told journalists that Hungary has been living in the shadow of the war in Ukraine for two and a half years now, and is directly experiencing its negative consequences. He said that the West’s strategy seemed to have failed. “The situation on the battlefield has not turned out as the Europeans and the Americans had hoped, despite the arms deliveries and sanctions,” he noted. “Therefore a new strategy is needed. If there is no solution on the battlefield, the solution must be found at the negotiating table.

However, this requires a dialogue, and for that we need to reopen diplomatic channels, without which it will be extremely difficult to reach any kind of solution,”

he continued.

The politician added that “Hungary is drawing completely different conclusions from the situation than our American and other European friends.”

Minister Szijjártó informed the journalists that

the talks also touched on bilateral cooperation issues, including the Paks nuclear plant‘s expansion, which he will discuss with Alexey Likhachev, CEO of the Russian nuclear company Rosatom, in Istanbul on Wednesday, because there is an “interesting development.”

He recalled that, although Rosatom is the main contractor, American, German and French companies are also working on the project, which he said “offers the hope that we can return to normality in international relations.” He underlined: “If American, French, German and Russian companies can work together on a nuclear project, this could be possible for other projects in the future.”

The minister also touched on the issue of Hungary’s gas and oil supplies, pointing out that there are still no problems with the former, but that Lukoil is currently not supplying Hungary via Ukraine, while a legal solution is being sought to restart transit.

He said that the issue of scholarships for Russian students in Hungary was also discussed, and that the next meeting of the Hungarian-Russian Joint Economic Committee was scheduled for September 20, when a business forum would be held at the same time. In this context, he stressed that

the aim is to continue to develop cooperation between the two countries in areas not affected by sanctions, as many Hungarian companies are successful on the Russian market, for instance in the agricultural, food and pharmaceutical sectors.

Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/KKM