Minister of State László Szabó received US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for democracy and human rights Robert Berschinski on 28 September 2015.
Robert Berschinski came to Hungary after having attended the conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on human rights and democracy held in Warsaw. Mr Szabó informed his counterpart from the US State Department of the latest developments of the migration crisis and the efforts made and contemplated by the Hungarian Government in the interest of the management of the situation.
The topics of the meeting additionally featured the situation of minorities and civil society organisations in Hungary. The parties discussed the current state of the Hungarian legislation regarding elections and the process of the amendment of the church legislation.
Mr Szabó highlighted at the meeting that the economic cooperation of the two countries rests on firm foundations. The United States is Hungary’s largest trade partner outside Europe: Hungarian exports to the United States increased by some 20.7% in 2014, and amounted to almost USD 4 billion as a new record in exports. In the first six months of 2015, the Hungarian foreign trade surplus increased by 16.8% compared with the first half of 2014. The United States is the largest investor from outside Europe in Hungary; 40 of the 50 largest American multinational companies are present in Hungary, and the investments of US interests in Hungary are in the magnitude of around USD 9 billion.