Minister Szijjártó in UN ECOSOC: Hungary ranked 22nd in meeting sustainable development goals

Mankind will only have a chance to preserve the planet for future generations by preventing the re-emergence of divisive blocs in the world, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a high-level meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on Monday.

In his address, Szijjártó noted that the world had recently undergone two major shocks in the form of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

The global security situation is the worst it has been in the last 80 years, the minister said. He argued that the threat of terrorism was greater than ever before and that the world was “witnessing the most open and most shameless reference to nuclear capacities, while the chance for the outbreak of the third world war is more imminent than ever”.

These security challenges threaten the re-emergence of divisive blocs in the world and could divert attention from the problem of preserving the planet, Szijjártó said. He said these challenges constituted a “vicious circle”, as divisive blocs would make it impossible to overcome environmental and climate-related challenges.

Referring to a “regional partnership group established by Serbia and Hungary”, Szijjártó urged the international community on behalf of both countries “to make a decision based on common sense”.

“And instead of dividing the world into blocs again, let’s enter the era of connectivity,” he said, adding that connectivity would promote mutually beneficial global cooperation based on mutual respect.

The minister said Hungary and Serbia served as a good example of how a past hostile relationship could be “converted into a friendship and strategic partnership”.

Though Hungary and Serbia could have chosen to be isolated from each other, their leaders understood that connectivity was beneficial for both countries, Szijjártó said.

Meanwhile, the minister said Hungary had emerged stronger from all of the recent crises thanks to its national responses to them. Hungary responded to the financial crisis with tax cuts, to the migration crisis with stronger border protection, to the economic crisis with investment promotion schemes, and to the energy crisis with the recognition that energy supply is a physical rather than a political or ideological matter, Szijjártó said.

He welcomed that these response measures had enabled Hungary to contribute to meeting the UN’s sustainable development targets. Citing the UN’s sustainability report, he said, Hungary ranked 22nd and Serbia 36th in meeting sustainable development goals.

Water and energy security are among the two most important issues and Hungary is committed resolving the challenges related to them, he said.

Concerning water shortages, Szijjártó highlighted the importance of technology, noting that water management solutions developed by Hungary were being used in many parts of the world. Water security is also critical for preventing the emergence of more migration waves, he added.

As regards the energy crisis, Szijjártó said the key question was how to reduce the environmental impact of energy production. He said the “obvious answer” was nuclear energy because it was a safe, cheap and sustainable way of producing electricity. He said the debate about nuclear energy had been based on emotions on many international platforms, but expressed hope that the UN “will continue to serve as a platform which is rational”.