PM Orban: Moving Closer to Peace and a Global Peace Summit

The Prime Minister said Hungary could advance the cause of peace and host an international peace summit. Speaking on Kossuth Radio’s Good Morning, Hungary! program, Viktor Orban emphasized that the Washington visit has been long in the making and could not only pave the way for a peace summit, but also level up U.S.–Hungarian economic cooperation.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: AFP)

In response to a question on next week's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, PM Orban told Kossuth Radio that we may be getting closer to peace and to holding a peace summit.

Viktor Orban: We can get closer to peace and a peace summit (Photo: Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltan Fischer / MTI)
 

“Preparations for this meeting have been in the works for quite some time. It’s not just a meeting with the U.S. President — we’re practically creating a ‘Hungarian day’ in Washington. Business leaders, several ministers, and the national security adviser will all be present. We will conduct a full review of U.S.–Hungarian relations. Of course, the most important issue is peace, but we also hope to lay the foundation for new economic cooperation between our two countries,”

Viktor Orban said.

The Prime Minister added that for months his government has been working to help American decision-makers better understand the map of Europe and its implications. “There’s only one globe, but there are many ways to look at it,” he noted. 

We Hungarians are not a large nation, so we must also learn to see the world through others’ eyes. For us, bilateral relations are essential — and we want U.S.–Hungarian ties to deliver tangible benefits to the Hungarian people. American investments have been arriving in Hungary one after another — the result of mutual agreements and trust between the two countries. But for investors to commit to long-term projects, they need predictability — especially when it comes to energy prices.

“We must make our American partners understand that, since Hungary has no seacoast, we are dependent on existing transport routes,” PM Orban explained. 

These challenges must be understood. Still, we are not completely alone — even the Germans, who do have a coastline, requested an exemption from one of the sanctions, though up to that point they were tugging at our sleeves to fall in line and go along with them,

he remarked pointedly.

The prime minister stressed that every nation has the right to defend its own economy against harmful sanctions — including those that possess access to the sea. “So if countries with ports have that right, then surely we — who have no sea — have that same right as well,” Mr Orban said.

With his upcoming Washington visit and meeting with Donald Trump, PM Orban aims to advance both peace and Hungary’s national interests, reaffirming his government’s stance that dialogue, not escalation, is the path forward.

Cover photo: Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (Photo: AFP)