Hungarian foreign minister visits Tunisia

“Cooperation between Hungary and Tunisia is important from both an economic and security perspective”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Monday.

Cooperation with Tunisia is important from both an economic and security perspective

Mr. Szijjártó told the press that during his visit to Tunis on Monday he had met with the Tunisian President and Foreign Minister, and later will also be holding meetings with the Ministers of Transport, Agriculture and Higher Education, after which he will meet with the directors of Tunisia’s largest companies and with officials from the Chamber of Commerce an Industry.

“Cooperation between Hungary and Tunisia is extremely important from both an economic and security perspective. From a security perspective because while there is peace and stability in Tunisia “we can be sure that hundreds of thousands or millions of illegal immigrants will not overrun Europe from this stretch of North African coastline”, and although the people of Tunisia live their lives under a major threat of terrorism “they are holding up for the moment”, he stressed, adding that it would also be in Europe’s interests for the country to remain stable in the long term, because while this is the case “the European Union can count on one less danger from the south”.

Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that for this reason on Monday the parties had signed a bilateral agreement on Interior Ministry and anti-terrorism cooperation according to which Hungary will be sharing its border control and border security experiences with Tunisia. “A Tunisian delegation has already visited Hungary’s southern border, in addition to which a Tunisian anti-terrorist delegation has also visited Hungary, and a Hungarian anti-terrorist delegation has visited Tunisia”, he recalled. The Hungarian Foreign Minister told reporters that in future the two countries would be tightening their border security and anti-terrorist cooperation and Hungary will be providing Tunisia with the assistance required for it to defend its border with Libya, which is in the interests of both Hungary and the European Union.