In a joint press release, Orbán said: “The security of Brussels does not start in its suburbs but at the Hungarian-Serbian border, and in a wider sense, at the Egyptian maritime and land borders.” Egypt “has not allowed a single ship transporting migrants to leave its shores” since 2016, he said, praising the feat as a “huge contribution to our security and to that of the whole of Europe”. Egypt and Hungary have no outstanding issues, and are both looking to boost cooperation, Orbán said. He thanked el-Sisi for offering Hungarian economic players a role in developing Egypt’s economy. Hungary and Egypt’s bilateral ties are rooted in the “internationally unparalleled development Egypt has undergone in the past seven years,” he said. Orbán said that at a meeting in 2015 el-Sisi had briefed him on a plan to “turn Egypt into an economic superpower” based on its 100 million-strong population and key geographical location. The subsequent “100-million-scale” development “has changed our picture of Egypt fundamentally … and convinced us that it would be a fantastic partner for Hungary.”
hungarymatters.hu
