Through the Hungary Helps program, Hungary has helped more than two million Christians in a difficult situation or facing persecution, the foreign ministry's state secretary in charge of aiding persecuted Christians said.
In a video shared on social media on the second day of his official visit to the United States, Tristan Azbej emphasized that he had traveled to the U.S. to attend a high-level international conference on religious freedoms,
to discuss the plight of persecuted Christians and the importance of aiding persecuted Christians,
and to "gather allies for the Hungary Helps programme in the civil and church community" as well as the Trump administration.
During the first two days of his visit, the state secretary had the opportunity to meet with leaders of several Eastern Church diaspora organizations in Chicago and the Midwest region. He held talks with the bishop of the Assyrian Church of the East, discussing the current situation of the church. He informed the bishop that, as part of the Hungary Helps program, Hungary had supported the construction of a church and also discussed how Hungary, in cooperation with the U.S. administration and the local community, could contribute through the Hungary Helps program
to ensuring that Christianity could survive in the Middle East and that those who had fled the region could return.
– I met with Chaldean Catholic Christians who had emigrated from Iraq, and they expressed great appreciation for what Hungary has done for them. Through the Hungary Helps program, the Hungarian government rebuilt an entire Chaldean Catholic settlement on the Nineveh Plains in Iraq. Along with their gratitude, they also conveyed their desire to work together with their Hungarian supporters from here in the United States," he stated. Tristan Azbej also noted that the Hungarians' American Diaspora Organization invited him to deliver a greeting at the annual Hungarian Ball held in Chicago.
I brought the message of the Hungarian people and government to our fellow Hungarians living far from home in America. I conveyed that we firmly believe that every Hungarian is responsible for every other Hungarian, and they can count on the Hungarian government,
– he emphasized. He added that Hungary supports Hungarian diaspora communities through the Kőrösi Csoma Program and encouraged them to contribute to strengthening Hungary’s international relations, particularly in light of the revitalization of Hungary-U.S. ties.
