Szijjártó: Hungary sends a military contingent to Mali
Speaking at a meeting of European Union and African Union foreign ministers, the head of the ministry first spoke about the coronavirus epidemic, saying that the success of the two continents’ responses depends on each other, writes MTI.
As he said, it is in Europe’s interest to offer successful epidemic management in Africa. He added that Hungary had so far donated 455,000 doses of vaccine to Egypt, Rwanda and the Republic of Cape Verde. product, an additional 200,000 doses were allocated to African countries under a joint program of the Turkish Council.
He stressed that the more damage the virus causes in Africa, the more immigrants will travel to Europe, and this could accelerate the spread of the epidemic.
Péter Szijjártó stated that according to the Hungarian position, the root causes must be addressed and help should be taken where there is trouble, not trouble. That is, as he pointed out, conditions need to be created in the issuing countries to allow people to work locally, rather than leaving their home country to encourage them.
“Hungary has done it, it will do it in this respect,” he said. He then cited as examples the government’s HUF 31 billion in tied aid loan programs in Africa and more than fifty HUF 11 billion in humanitarian or development projects in Africa.
“If the Brussels institutions devoted their energy and resources to helping African countries (.) Instead of inspiring and encouraging waves of illegal migration, there would be much less immigration pressure on Europe,” he said.
The Minister called it extremely important to support talented young African people in their homeland for the modernization and development of their homeland. Hungary therefore provides 1,400 state scholarships per year to African university students, in which twenty countries currently participate.
Finally, he decided that Hungary had decided to take part in the operation of the European Force in Support of the Malian Army (Takuba) with 62 soldiers in order to strengthen security.
The EU and AU foreign ministers will meet for the second time in this format since the fifth summit between the two blocs in November 2017. The next summit is scheduled for early next year in Brussels.