The government has provided about 32 million euros to international development and humanitarian assistance programmes, Levente Magyar told a press conference.

Hungary has provided 5 million euros to Afghanistan, and has spent close to 2 million euros on health care, social, educational and cultural programmes, Magyar said, adding that it had undertaken to cover the cost of vaccination of Transcarpathian children in Ukraine worth billions of forints, he said.

Hungary’s civil defence contribution has totalled several millions of euros, Magyar said, adding that around 70 million euros had been spent on military crisis management and several million euros provided to the EU border agency Frontex and the European Asylum Support Office.

Magyar further noted the 100 billion forint fixed line of credit provided to Indonesia, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Kosovo and Mongolia, and the 80 billion forint assistance given to Ukraine and Serbia for economy development.

Hungary has spent 21 billion forints (EUR 68.4m) on grants for students coming from third-world countries to study in Hungary and has supported programmes by Hungarian charities abroad and the construction of a hospital in Syria.

“Criticism that Hungary has not been a responsible and active member of the international community and is turning a blind eye to the situation of the poor in the world is simply untrue,” Magyar said, stressing that the international community can rely on Hungary’s contribution.

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