Hungary attaches special importance to its cooperation with Latin America, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest, adding that Paraguay could play a key role in that partnership.
At a joint press conference after talks with his Paraguayan counterpart Luis Alberto Castiglioni, Szijjártó underlined the two countries’ sovereign foreign policy, saying that both Hungary and Paraguay insisted on their right to decide whom they want to live together with. He noted that neither country had voted for the United Nations’ global migration compact.
As regards economic ties, Szijjártó said Hungary had recognised the growing importance of Latin America and launched its strategy of ‘opening to the south’. Paraguay, “with its economic policy based on a disciplined budget and low taxes”, could play a key role in this strategy, the minister said. Hungary and Paraguay’s economic cooperation will focus on water management and agriculture, he added. Turning to trade, Szijjártó expressed Hungary’s support for the signing of a free trade deal between the European Union and Mercosur.
Castiglioni said he had presented a request to Szijjártó for Hungary’s approval of Paraguay opening an embassy in Budapest. This will be the first Paraguayan embassy in the region, the minister said, adding that it could bolster bilateral ties. Castiglioni said the reason why Paraguay had rejected the UN’s global migration compact was because it had always been an independent and sovereign country and wanted to decide on its own migration policy. On the topic of trade, he said Mercosur and the EU had made considerable progress at their latest round of free trade talks and could soon sign an agreement.