(Communicated by the MFA Spokesperson)
Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabi Ashkenazi met today (Monday, 20 July 2020) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto. The two discussed bilateral issues, collaboration in dealing with the corona pandemic and Middle Eastern regional issues, with emphasis on the Iranian threat and the precise missile project.
Hungary is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors and has played a significant role in the Agency's latest report outlining Iran's violations of its international obligations.
FM Ashkenazi: “I expressed our concern to the Hungarian Foreign Minister about Iran's incessant violations of its nuclear commitments. In our view, the solution to these violations is complete renunciation of the nuclear agreement, and it is our expectation that the Hungarian government will support this policy.
“We agreed today that we will work towards renewing travel and tourism as soon as circumstances allow, to allow Israeli tourists to visit Hungary and Hungarian tourists to visit Israel.”
FM Ashkenazi thanked his counterpart for Hungary’s strong support of Israel in the European Union and for its firm stance against anti-Israel decisions.
The two discussed further options for developing economic ties between the countries, and jointly tackling the global corona crisis.
Two agreements between Israel and Hungarywere signed during the visit:
- A Memorandum of Understanding regarding cooperation under the Hungarian Scholarship Program for the years 2020-2023, according to which the Hungarian government will fund 50 scholarships for Israeli students each year.
- A Statement of Intent regarding space cooperation as a preliminary step to signing a bilateral framework agreement for cooperation in the field.
The agreements were signed by both Ministers of Foreign Affairs and by Israel Minister for Science, Technology and Space Yizhar Shai.
This is the fifth state visit to Israel over the past two months. It was preceded by visits of the US Secretary of State, the German Foreign Minister, the Greek Prime Minister, and the Cypriot Foreign Minister.