Szijjarto: Hungary as EU president to work on promoting closer EU-UAE ties

Written by BT/MTI

Hungary, as president of the EU in the second half of the year, will work to promote closer ties between the European Union and the United Arab Emirates, Peter Szijjarto, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said after meeting his UAE counterpart in Budapest on Tuesday.

Szijjarto welcomed the visit by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, noting that the sheikh last paid an official visit to Hungary eight years ago, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Sheikh Abdullah’s current visit is of particular importance for several reasons, Szijjarto said, adding that “responsible countries” such as the UAE played a stabilising role in its region amid the today’s serious challenges around the world.

The foreign minister expressed appreciation for the UAE’s role in brokering the Abraham Accords, and expressed hope that the Middle East would soon return to “the spirit of the agreement”.

He welcomed that the UAE has joined “the club of nuclear energy”, which he said “will open new horizons” in Hungarian-UAE ties in training and research, noting that nuclear reactors have been operating in Hungary for more than fifty years.

Hungary, Szijjarto said, had always held UAE in high regard for the role it played in the fight against terrorism. “This is rather important from the point of view of the security of the region and the world,” he said.