Excellency Orbán, Prime Minister of Hungary, members of the US and Hungarian delegations, and all our esteemed guests. At today's event, the agreement between the government of the United States of America and the government of Hungary to facilitate cooperation on the civilian nuclear program in Hungary will be signed. The signatories to the agreement on behalf of the United States of America, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and on behalf of Hungary, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr. Péter Szijjártó.
Thank you very much, gentlemen. And now, may I invite Prime Minister of Hungary Orbán to deliver his statement.
Good morning, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, distinguished Mr. Secretary of State. This week starts well. It's only Monday and we are already over a friendly and very serious discussion with the Secretary of State arriving from the United States of America. We agreed upon this visit with the President of the United States on our visit to the US last November and I'd like to deliver my heartfelt thanks to Secretary of State for visiting Hungary and therefore doing a privilege to Hungary. We reviewed and overviewed our bilateral relationships. There is a new US President whom I am also adapting to the new expressions. A new golden age has set upon us concerning the relationship between the United States and Hungary. We operate with understatements in the Hungarian language and Hungarian politics. But the situation is that I cannot remember although for 30 odd years I have been present in politics when the last time it was that the relationships between the two nations were at such a high level, so balanced and so friendly. So my heart thanks goes to President Trump. Perhaps the last time we were near this when President Bush visited us prior to the change in the political regime which visit greatly contributed to us doing away with the communists and the war so packed. Since then we had better and worse periods in the US and relationships but we've never been to this high a level since last year's January 17 US investments have been decided upon here in Hungary. This is a decade long record. Hungarians can once again travel to the US without a visa. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State. Hungary was invited to the peace council. The first inauguration meeting will take place in Washington DC this Thursday perhaps where I shall represent Hungary. And we entered into agreements of key importance in the fields of energy including oil, gas and nuclear energy. And these agreements, with the exception provided by the President of the United States of America which allows for the use of Russian gas and oil here in Hungary, jointly contribute to the fact that Hungary can continue to remain secure on the aspect of energy supply and that we shall be able to supply households and the industry with cheap energy in an international comparison. And we also discussed the refinery in Serbia, how that can be purchased and how it can be purchased by MOL, the Hungarian oil company. As for me, I assured Secretary of State Mr. Rubio that Hungary continues to support regardless of what European conflict that brings about. Hungary shall continue to support the efforts of peace of the US and Ukraine. The current President of the United States did the most in international politics in order to ensure peace in the Russian-Ukrainian war. And I must reiterate, although everybody knows that if Donald Trump had been the President of the United States, this war would never have broken out. And if he were not the president now, then we would not even stand a chance to put an end to the war with peace. So, thanks goes to the United States President for his efforts in favor of peace. Hungary remains ready that if there is a peace summit that we provide a venue for that here in Budapest and I assured Mr. Rubio that Mr. Trump has a live invitation to Hungary. Thank you very much Mr. State Secretary for the opportunity to enter into discussions today.
Thank you very much Mr. Prime Minister and I invite Secretary of State of the United States of America Marco Rubio to make a statement.
Here today. It's an honor to be with you in this incredibly gorgeous city. It's my first time being here and it's phenomenal even to be in this hall where and and the history behind it and everything that's going on here. The second is you know the the relationship you you talked about the golden age which is not an exaggeration. The the relationship between United States and Hungary today is as close as I can possibly imagine it being and it's not just close rhetorically it's close in action and things that are actually happening. And I think some evidence of that is here today in the agreement that we've just signed that builds on a historic meeting that we had in November at the White House that you had with the President and that I happen to be have the honor to be present and be a part of it. The signed agreement we've had today is one that we hope will be many in the years to come that areas of collaboration. You spoke about the 17 investments to those who think that Hungary is being isolated. That's an example of the fact that that's not the case. That under the Prime Minister's leadership, in fact, there is a growing number of American companies as evidenced by the 17 that have already arrived who want to invest in your economy and want to be a part of what's happening here and are excited about it because you have strong leadership because you have leadership that we know are going to protect investments and allow it to continue to be a place that's friendly for business and be competitive with rules that are competitive that allow businesses to grow and prosper in comparison to other places. And there's so many other areas that we can work together on, especially on energy, but just so many areas of common interest. But I have to say this because it's important to understand. We are entering this golden era of relations between our countries. And not simply because the alignment of our people, but because of the relationship that you have with the President of the United States. I don't think you know it is any mystery and should not be a mystery to anyone here how the President feels about you. How he interacted with you in his first term as President and now in his second term as President that relationship's grown even closer and it's important to understand how important the relations between leaders are to the relations between countries. There there is we at the end of the day we are still human. We are still people and that person-to-person connection that you've established with the President has made all the difference in the world in building this relationship and in hopefully growing this relationship even more. It is the kind of thing that I think for example I can say to you with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success because your success is our success because this relationship we have here in Central Europe through you is so essential and vital for our national interests in the years to come that you know if you face financial struggles, if you face things that are impediments to growth, if you face things that that threaten the stability of your country, I know that President Trump will be very interested because of your relationship with him and because of this importance to this country to us to finding ways to provide assistance if that moment ever were to arise and obviously with regards to the finances and the like. I also think it's the reason why in your visit in November you saw an extension of and a suspension of the imposition of sanctions and allowed to move forward on energy. It was because of that personal relationship. Because we want you to continue because we want this economy to prosper. We want this country to do well. It's in our national interest, especially as long as you're the Prime Minister and the leader of this country. It's in our national interest that Hungary be successful. It helps America and obviously it helps you. So, it's an honor to be with you here today. We have a lot that we can continue to work on. We also want to thank you and I want to thank you on behalf of the President of the United States for the indispensable role you played on the board of peace. Not everyone's on the board of peace and not everyone, you know, for different reasons they can be participants or not be participants, but you are and you've been there from the very first day. And again, a testament to the personal relationship between President Trump and Prime Minister Orbán that I think speaks volumes. The role you play geopolitically, the role you play even outside of this region in affairs involving the Middle East is invaluable and indispensable and we are we are very appreciative of it. And that's why after traveling to Munich for the security conference, I wanted to make sure we paid a visit here to continue to build on this relationship and to signal very clearly that not only are we in a golden age, but we haven't even scratched the surface of what we can achieve together as a people, as peoples, as nations, and as leaders. And so I thank you for the opportunity to be with all of you here today. And thank you for the very warm invitation and the very important conversations that we had where we touched on a bunch of subjects and a bunch of topics that I think will be of great interest back in Washington when I return. Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Secretary of State. Thank you very much. We have some time for questions. Hungarian television gets the floor.
Good morning. I am László Szirmay. Zelensky, President of Ukraine is constantly attacking Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for not supporting the EU accession of Ukraine. What is your take on this political action, this political attack against the NATO and EU member states and who is the question addressed to? Both of you, both of you naturally.
I don't wish to drag Secretary of State into Hungarian internal political issues. The Ukrainians and the President obviously have entered into the Hungarian election campaign. For a while, I was thinking whether we should take that on the wrong note or not. I mean, with such brutal opening into the election campaign of another country is not very frequent. You don't see that often. But then again, I realized it was understandable because the Hungarian elections is the most important to Hungarian people, but it has an impact beyond Hungary as well. And the Ukrainians quite justly believe that what government Hungary shall have is significant to them. And there are only two options. One is what you know well. That is the option of the Hungarian people who at a vote at vote 2025 clearly stated that they would not undertake the Ukraine according to the European Union because that would drag us into a war and ruin our economy. And you can also know that we shall not provide money for Brussels in order for them to send that to Ukraine. The other option which is a real option and the Ukrainians would favor that and with common sense you can realize that if a government arrives which would want or which would accept Ukraine becoming a member of the European Union they obviously want a government which will take a part in the financial burden of Ukraine in other words send money to Ukraine and for the Ukrainians it doesn't matter what the outcome of the elections will be therefore they decided to participate in the cap and since we stand on the ground of common sense, we must not be surprised at that, we must adapt to it. And we must acknowledge that the Ukrainian President and Ukraine will be an active participant of this election and we have to prevail against them too. That is our reality. Anything else attached to that, the future of the war, the funding of the war are beyond the framework of this press conference. I will not go into detail. I would only return to a single aspect that this is an election. As an election, people decide and for Ukraine it doesn't matter what the outcome of the decision is and therefore they put their full weight and weaponry in participating in the Hungarian campaign. We know full well that the fund finance our opponents. We know how that happens. This is a well-known written fact. But once again, we must not be outraged, but we must acknowledge that this campaign in Hungary also has an international dimension in other directions too, but in the Ukrainian direction. That is why it's an important international event, not only for Hungarians, but as the example of Ukrainians shows, it's important for other greater nations. That's how you have to win elections. We have won elections in many ways. Now, we shall win this way.
My only comment is the United States interest is to see the war end and we want to do what we can to make it end. We're the only nation on earth that apparently can get both sides to the table to talk. I'm not here to insult anybody, but the United Nations hasn't been able to do it. There's no other country in Europe that's been able to do it. The United States has been successful at being able to get both sides to talk. I mean for the first time you know I don't know in a number of years you actually have at a technical level military officials from both sides sat down last week in the Middle East and we'll restart those talks again in Geneva later this week. I think that's a very positive thing. That said, you know, all we are trying to do is play a role if it's possible in reaching a deal. We're not trying seeking to impose a deal on anybody. We're not trying to force anyone to take a deal they don't want to take. We just want to help them because we think it's a war that's incredibly damaging. We think it's a war that's incredibly destructive. We think it's a war that never should have happened and should end as soon as possible. That's how the President feels and the President's invested a tremendous amount of time and political capital and trying to serve a useful purpose. Usually, you know, in my time observing geopolitics, when a President tries to engage himself in peacemaking and in ending wars, that's usually applauded. So, this is one of the few times for a lot of different reasons, I don't know what they may be, but maybe I can speculate what they are, where people actually criticize a President trying to end a war. Usually, when you're trying to end wars, the international community applauds you. This is one of the few wars I've ever seen where the some people in the international community condemn you for trying to help end a war. But that's what we're trying to do. That's what we're going to continue to do as long as our role is in our engagement is a positive one. And hopefully the war will end. The sooner the better. It should have ended a long time ago. It should have never actually happened. This war should have never happened. This war would have never happened if Donald Trump had been President of the United States at the time it began. But you know that's what happened and so now here we are. So we're going to continue to do everything we can to try to bring it to an end. And if we can be successful at it, I think the world will be a better place and if we can't then unfortunately the suffering and the dying and the killing will continue and that's not good for anybody but that's where we find ourselves. So hopefully we can stop it. But let's see.
Thank you very much. Budapest is in fact beautiful. Mr. Secretary, on the notion of a golden age, why isn't the United States conditioning deeper cooperation with Budapest on Hungary reducing its extensive and ongoing deepening cooperation with China, which is a strategic rival for the United States? Secondly, if despite President Trump's endorsement and your visit here, Prime Minister Orbán does not succeed and loses the April election, does the US commit to working with his challenger constructively? Prime Minister Orbán, do you commit to accepting electoral defeat if it happens? And to both of you, President, I mean, sorry, Prime Minister Orbán has said that the exemption that Hungary has been granted for Russian energy purchases is indefinite. The US has said it was for one year. Which one is it? Thank you.
All right. Well, let me start by answering that question. First of all, let me so everybody can be very clear. I've made this point repeatedly. I'll make it again. Under President Trump, it is our expectation that every nation on earth is going to act in their national interest. That's what nations are supposed to do. If the Prime Minister of Hungary does not act in the national interest of Hungary, he won't be Prime Minister for long. But who's going to act in the national interest of Hungary if their Prime Minister doesn't do it? If your government is not acting in your national interest, then who will? By the way, we feel the same way about America. So, in those instances in which our national interest and some other country's national interests are aligned, that is an opportunity for extraordinary partnership. And we have many, many areas where our national interests are aligned. Where they're not aligned or where we have some differences. That's where that alignment and the other issues, that's where this relationship, that's where these deep ties to one another are so important because that's where you can find accommodation. That's where you can hear each other out. That's where maybe you can work together on. But we're not asking any country in the world to isolate themselves from anybody. We understand that every country in the world has to deal with the reality of their geography, of their economy, of their history, and of the challenges of their future. We will obviously share with partners and friends concerns we may have about certain things. But as an example, the United States, you mentioned China as an example, okay? We have trade and relations with China. The President of the United States is going to travel in April to China. Why? Because China is a big country. It's got a billion something people. Second largest economy in the world. They have nuclear weapons. It would be crazy. Okay? It's insane for the United States and China not to have relations and interact with one another. Now, two big countries like this, do we have differences? We absolutely do. And we'll have to manage those differences. And some of those differences are things I we we've spoken very frankly and clearly and repeatedly about the fact that it is not good for the world. It's not good for anybody to rely on one country or one economy for 90% of anything, especially things like critical supply chains. This is a reality. We want to diversify supply chains around the world. We've spoken clearly about it. That's not an anti-China thing. That's just the reality that overdependence on one source is not good and especially when there's been a willingness in the past to use it as leverage against each other. But we expect we we pursue these things within the context of the US national interest and that's why we met with the Chinese in South Korea earlier in the year and were able to reach an understanding on some trade matters that was a mutual interest between us and them. So geopolitics is difficult because it requires a little bit of maturity and seriousness. Okay. It requires a little bit of seriousness about these things have real implications and the balancing of relations between nation states requires maturity and seriousness. So our relationship here, you asked the last question about it. Look, I'm just telling you guys what it is. Okay? The President has an extraordinarily close relationship to the Prime Minister. He does and it has had tangible benefits in our relationship. I'm not going to speculate about the future. You know, what happens in this country is up to the voters of this country to determine and decide. And we love the people of Hungary. But I'm not but I there's no reason to sugarcoat it. I'm going to be very blunt with you. The Prime Minister and the President have a very very close personal relationship and working relationship and I think it has been incredibly beneficial to the relationship between our two countries.
What's that? I'm sorry. Russian energy purchases.
