Minister Szijjártó said the sides would discuss rolling back sanctions that hurt Hungary’s interests and advancing bilateral cooperation.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, met with United States Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday.
In Washington, D.C. ahead of the meeting, Minister Szijjártó said the sides would discuss rolling back sanctions that hurt Hungary’s interests and advancing bilateral cooperation. He added that the talks would address sanctions introduced in the last days of the Biden administration that hurt Hungary’s economic interests and put its energy security at risk, pointing to measures affecting the upgrade of the Paks nuclear power plant, payments for gas and the construction of a crude pipeline between Hungary and Serbia.
Minister Szijjártó also mentioned the inclusion of Antal Rogán, the cabinet minister, on a sanctions list as “petty revenge by the frustrated, outgoing [US] ambassador”. “It is my honest hope that we can advance on the matter of sanctions harming Hungary motivated by political revenge at the talks today,” he said.
Minister Szijjártó said he believed the sides could agree to start talks on a new double taxation avoidance treaty to replace one that was cancelled by the Biden administration and discuss a new type of financial cooperation.
He said Hungarian-American ties were entering a “new golden age” with President Donald Trump in office.
Minister Szijjártó said an extraordinary meeting of the US-Hungary Business Council had been convened to promote closer ties. He noted that some 1,200 US-owned companies employed over 100,000 people in Hungary.
Over the past ten years, 140 American companies have made big investments in Hungary with a value of HUF 1,000bn, supported by around HUF 140bn from the government, he said. Those projects have created 19,000 jobs, he added.
