The southern challenges have a direct impact on Hungary’s security because “the biggest numbers of migrants arrive here from destabilised regions in the southern neighbourhood of Europe,” he said, adding that the situation in the south is one of the main causes of the migration pressure on Europe and Hungary.

This is why Hungary has decided to maintain its military presence in Afghanistan after 2016, Szijjártó said, noting that there are currently 101 Hungarian troops serving in that country. The decision has also been made to maintain Hungary’s financial contribution to the development of the security forces in Afghanistan, equalling 500,000 dollars a year, until 2020, he added.

Hungary also takes part in training Jordanian and Iraqi soldiers to detect explosive devices. The foreign minister said they agreed with his Jordanian counterpart that the shared goal should be to keep refugees as close as possible to their homes and prevent them from travelling to Europe.

Therefore, Hungary urges the European Union to provide funding to Jordan, which already provides for more than one million Syrian refugees, to establish industrial development zones where they can be employed while staying close to their home country, he said.

Defence Minister István Simicskó said after the summit that NATO has strengthened its unity in the fight against threats from the south, including illegal migration and people smuggling. “We have strengthened cohesion against threats from the south and also from the east”, he said, referring to the military alliance’s decision to strengthen its eastern flank.

The fight against terrorism is a very important challenge to NATO, he added. “Illegal migration across the Mediterranean and the pressure of illegal migration in the Western Balkans” pose great threats on member states, involving human smuggling and the arrival of terrorists, he said.

As a result, the agenda for the NATO summit in Warsaw included strengthening the Mediterranean fleet and the fight against Islamic State. Hungary participates in the training of Kurdish forces in Iraq and offers help to Jordan, he added. In order to prevent the expansion of the Islamic State at its recent fast pace, NATO has decided to make every effort to maintain the stability of Libya, he said.

Commenting on the decision to maintain stable military presence in Afghanistan, he said it is also important for handling migration and terrorism that Hungary should contribute to stabilising the forces as necessary.

More than a hundred Hungarian soldiers will remain in the Afghanistan mission and Hungary will “provide financial help for local Afghan forces to work together with the Western world”, he added.

The length of the extended mission will be the subject of a future decision, he said.

Commenting on the challenges for NATO from the east, Simicskó said that next to strengthened military presence, maintaining an open dialogue with Russia is important because “Europe’s stability demands that we should not lock the door but continue dialogue also with the Russians”.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Botár Gergely