Hungary has established diplomatic relations with Palau, and according to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade this is also an important step from an economic perspective.
Péter Szijjártó is attending the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and during his visit he concluded an agreement on establishing diplomatic relations with Palau.
In a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI, the politician explained: In 2011, The President of the Republic issued a resolution on establishing diplomatic relations with Palau and other island nations in the Pacific, but this has not taken place to date.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, the implementation of the decision is also important because Palau has links to Hungary: it is the only country in the region to have named one of its schools after Cardinal Mindszenty, and accordingly its “spiritual link” to Hungary is obvious.
“It was agreed that based on the Mindszenty heritage, work should begin at the level of cultural and social relations”, he said.
“Water management is also an important area of building relations, in view of the fact that Palau lies in a region that is vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, and accordingly water management issues play a significant role in the country’s’ life”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.
“Since several countries in the region, such as Indonesia, are already using Hungarian water management technologies, we will also be making Palau an offer with relation to the transfer of Hungarian technology”, the Minister explained.
“Accordingly, the establishment of diplomatic relations was not only aimed at conforming to the order of the President of the Republic, but could also have an economic bearing in future”, he highlighted.
Mr. Szijjártó will also be meeting with the Foreign Minister of Tajikistan, with relation to which he told the press that the parties will be concluding an investment protection agreement, which is important because the European Union is currently working on a Central Asia strategy in view of the fact that the EU has recognised the importance of economic cooperation with the region.
“Central Europe is expected to play an important role in this, and one of the important Central Asian pillars of cooperation between Central Europe and Central Asia is Tajikistan”, he said.
“The new agreement will enable economic relations in a legally guaranteed form, and this will be particularly important with relation to water management”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister explained.
“Tajikistan has an extremely significant hydro-electric energy potential, but is practically not exploiting this potential at all because of a lack of technology, and accordingly would like to cooperate with Hungary in this regard”, he pointed out.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, cooperation with Tajikistan is also important because the country has undertaken major border protection duties relating to the wave of migration in the region.
“If anyone in this region of the world fails with regard to border protection, it will also be felt in Europe within a very short time”, he explained. “Although it may seem far away from us”, Tajikistan’s successful border protection activities are important with respect to the security of all of Europe, he added.