"Whenever there was a conflict between East and West, we Central Europeans were always the losers," the foreign minister said in New York.
At the discussion of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference, the minister began his speech by saying that he represents a country neighboring Ukraine, which is exposed to serious security, economic and energy supply risks due to the war that began on February 24.
As a representative of a country where 870,000 refugees have already arrived from Ukraine, I call on the international community to focus all its efforts on creating peace in Ukraine," he said.
"We believe that peace is the only solution to all aspects of war," he added. Péter Szijjártó warned that the war reinforces even more the importance of avoiding the further spread of nuclear weapons in the world, as the war increases the risk of nuclear escalation and miscalculations.
As he pointed out, a repeated blockade of the world would be seriously contrary to Hungary's interests, it is important to maintain the dialogue between East and West, especially in strategic matters.
We learned the lesson from our history, whenever there was a conflict between East and West, we Central Europeans were always the losers," he said.
In this regard, he called it regrettable that the dialogue between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (SC) has now been interrupted, and therefore, citing the risk of further tensions, he asked these countries to continue it.
We ask everyone involved not to play geopolitics to our detriment," he stated.
The minister then also touched on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which, according to him, is even more important in light of the current crisis. In his words, this is a "cost-effective, climate-friendly, safe and stable way of energy production" that "helps reduce our country's dependence on fluctuations in the global energy market."
He emphasized that it is necessary to ensure that sanctions on nuclear energy are avoided, as such measures would limit the right of states to compose their own energy mix, which is a national competence. In this context, he emphasized that the Paks expansion is fully in line with the safety regulations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Finally, he pointed out that it is necessary to commit to the NPT and its provisions, this requires political will and cooperation, and Hungary is ready to take part in joint efforts aimed at this.
Source: Mandiner/MTI
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