The United States is a major player is global politics, yet the close American-European alliance remains important, especially with regard to security policy – said Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh at a conference on US-Hungarian relations.
The Parliamentary State Secretary stressed that although the United States was pivoting towards the Asia-Pacific region from a security policy standpoint, it was still tied to Europe through economic interests. He added that NATO could play a major role in bolstering American-European economic relations since security was indispensable for maintaining competitiveness.
Zsolt Németh claimed that the US government was paying more attention to the Asian-Pacific region because it must respond to more security policy challenges there. He noted that the advancement of economic integration between Europe and the United States would lead to a more stable environment, which would serve the interests of the entire world. This is why Hungary is ready to play a constructive role in establishing an EU-US free trade zone.
The Hungarian State Secretary underlined that Hungary was grateful to the United States for its assistance in the development of the Hungarian defence force; the soldiers of the two countries have successfully taken part in joint operations. Zsolt Németh suggested that the US and Hungary could also cooperate in enhancing cyber security and in other fields of research and development.
Mr. Németh stated that the next NATO summit should address the issue of expansion; he insisted that NATO should be open towards the countries of the Western Balkans because this region was still „an unfinished issue” and was important also from the viewpoint maintaining NATO’s credibility.
US Ambassador to Hungary Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis said that Hungary and the US had been working together to build strong ties for 20 years and one of the most important elements of these efforts has been military cooperation.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
