Musk greeted Novák with one of his sons before holding private talks with the president. “Elon Musk could not make it to the Budapest Demographic Summit in the end.

We are making up for the meeting now,” Novák said on Facebook. She began the meeting by saying that the demographic crisis was not getting enough attention relative to climate change.

Vajk Farkas, communications director of the presidential Sándor Palace, told public media that one of the main aims of Novák’s US visit was to meet with allies in tackling demographic challenges.

These, he said, included Musk, Texas Governor Greg Abott and Montana Governor Greg Gianforte. Musk has voiced his views on global demographic challenges on multiple occasions recently, saying that “population collapse” was a bigger threat than climate change.

He has also recently met other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni. Novák wrapped up her visit in Utah on Tuesday, meeting Governor Spencer Cox.

President Novák Discusses Cooperation With Texas Governor



President Katalin Novák met Texas Governor Greg Abbott for talks on “opportunities in theoretical and practical bilateral cooperation” in Dallas late on Thursday. “The State of Texas holds just the same values as Hungary,” Novák said.

Abbott said his state was open to build business relations with other countries, and noted that Texas in itself would be the eighth largest economy in the world. He voiced readiness to cooperate with special regard to car making and the space industry.

The talks touched upon opportunities offered by Texas’s oil and gas industry to meet Hungary’s energy demands, too. Novák highlighted Texas’s recent economic achievements, and said she was looking forward to the implementation of a recent agreement between Hungary and Axiom Space in Houston, adding that the partnership “could help a second Hungarian astronaut to space”.

Concerning shared values, Novák mentioned the fight against illegal migration, the family, as well as “the fundamental values of security and the nation”.

President Novák in UNGA: No Alternative to Peace


There is no alternative to peace, President Katalin Novák said in her address to the 78th session of the United Nations' General Assembly in New York.

“This war also directly affects us Hungarians. It is not just in our neighbourhood. Hungarian fathers and sons living in Ukraine are also giving their lives in the trenches,” she said, adding that this is why “we want peace. In our country, in Ukraine, in Europe, in the world.

Peace and the security that comes with it”. Novák said at the general debate that “we know that peace is only realistically attainable when at least one side sees the time for negotiations as having come”.

“We cannot decide for Ukrainians about how much they are prepared to sacrifice, but we have a duty to represent our own nation’s desire for peace,” the Hungarian president said some 15 minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the General Assembly.

Novák stressed that Hungary condemns “clearly and unequivocally the violation of international law, the attack on another state, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, which has caused immense suffering and destruction and has destroyed the peaceful life of Europe”.

Novák: Hungary Against Further Escalation


Hungary is for the victims and against further escalation, which is why it punches above its weight in providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine and those fleeing the war, President Katalin Novák said at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Hungary stands for the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine, and understands Ukraine’s desire to be part of the community of European countries, “thus we expect it to uphold the values that characterise our community”, the president said.

The suffering caused by the war affects families first and foremost, Novák said, adding that having visited Kyiv at Zelensky’s invitation twice since the outbreak of the war, she had seen the suffering of the families and “what they experience when the peace is broken”.

The Hungarian president also touched on the demographic challenges facing the world, warning that if the international community did not address this issue, “it will have an immeasurable impact on our economies, societies, and security in the near future”.

She noted that last week’s Budapest Demographic Summit, “the most important international forum on demographic issues”, brought together public leaders, thinkers, demographers, and the representatives of family organisations and professional workshops from sixty countries and five continents.

The message of the summit was that “pro-family forces stand up for their values and interests”, the president said. “If there is no child, there will be no future,” said Novák.

“What is the point of looking after the Earth if we don’t have children and grandchildren to pass it on to?” Hungarians see the solution to the demographic crisis in strengthening and supporting families, Novák said. Hungary protects parental freedom, the president said.

“We strongly believe that the right to raise children does not belong to the state, nor to NGOs, nor to the media or the knowledge industry, but to parents,” she added.

Anyone who has a child is prepared to fight at any time to ensure that their child can live in peace and freedom, Novák said.

“We recognise that family is the key to security. A strong, united and healthy family is a guarantee of security,” the president said, concluding her address.