„The atmosphere of NATO-Russian cooperation has improved significantly”, Hungary's Foreign Minister said on Tuesday evening, after the meeting of NATO foreign ministers with their Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov.

„The discussion was not characterized by confrontation”, Minister Martonyi said. He pointed out that the parties managed to agree on the cooperation program for next year, which covers the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking as well as the mission in Afghanistan. The Hungarian Foreign Minister declared that contentious points included missile defence systems, their positions on the conflict in Syria and on the prospects of Georgia's future membership in the alliance.

After the NATO-Russia meeting, NATO foreign ministers reviewed NATO partnership relations, agreeing to make the system more efficient and flexible, János Martonyi said, adding that at the meeting he had stressed the importance of NATO's cooperation with the EU, its most important ally.

The Western Balkans was also on the agenda. Minister Martonyi brought up the importance of NATO's further expansion in this context.

"We called for Montenegro to be invited to the next NATO summit for progress on the issue of Macedonia," he said.

The foreign ministers praised the work of EU foreign and security policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has managed to get the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo to meet for the third time for talks in Brussels, the Minister said.

János Martonyi called it unfortunate that a NATO-Ukraine meeting was not held alongside the Meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers. He claimed „it was not a good message” since the Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic prospects should be maintained.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)