Szijjarto calls for urgent agreement on transatlantic community, Russia

Budapest, October 21 (MTI) – An agreement is urgently needed between the transatlantic community and Russia in order to close the war in Syria and resolve the migrant crisis, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after talks in Moscow on Wednesday.

Szijjarto told MTI that the migration crisis and the situation in Syria were in the focus of talks with counterpart Sergey Lavrov.

Syria is the main source of the current wave of migrants, Szijjarto said.

“Without a US-Russia agreement, a transatlantic-Russian agreement, there is no solution to the war in Syria and therefore no solution to the migration crisis affecting Europe,” he added.

Szijjarto said Hungary welcomed the decision of the US secretary of state and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Russia and Turkey to meet in Vienna on Friday, arguing that the longer it takes to resolve the question of such an agreement, the more migrants will arrive in Europe, the minister said. He expressed hope that the meeting would have positive results and that as a result the end of the Syrian war becomes a “realistic possibility” in the short run.

Szijjarto said he and Lavrov agreed that the international coalition must up its game against the Islamic State militant group, since the more territories IS conquers, the more people will be forced to leave their homes and set off for Europe.