Hungary urges European nations to invest in Africa to tackle illegal migration

Hungary’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, is urging European countries to focus on investments in Africa as a way of curbing illegal migration.

Speaking on the Diplomatic Affairs Show with Harriet Nartey on Pan African TV, he listed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Israel’s conflict with Hamas, and the terrorism situation in the Sahel region in Africa as some of the threats to Europe and global peace.

He said, “The population of Africa is growing fast, and we all know that if African countries are not developing in a way that they could keep their rapidly increasing population at home, then we in Europe will be faced with an even more serious challenge caused by massive illegal migration, which has been hitting the continent. Therefore, we urge European colleagues always not to encourage African people to leave for Europe but to help African countries with economic development, investments, trade, and jobs to keep the population at home.”

He further stated that Hungary is doing a lot to stop the illegal migration menace. He said, “We Hungarians have been carrying out a lot of development projects on the continent, including water, sanitation, education, public administration, infrastructure development, and we are helping Christian communities a lot. So our focus is on revamping economic development, investments, and job creation.”

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 36,000 migrants arrived in the Mediterranean region of Europe from January to March this year, nearly twice the number compared with the same period in 2022.

On developments in Ghana, he said Hungary has been providing solutions. He said a Hungarian company has completed three projects on drinking water and sewage water management plants.

He revealed he has met the Minister of Water and Sanitation, and there are discussions underway to add two additional projects where Hungarian companies could contribute to the safe supply of water in certain regions here in Ghana. He said, “We are also helping in the field of the printing industry.

Basically, your new biometric passport is produced by a Hungarian company, and 500,000 pieces a year for a thirteen-year contract, is going to be signed. And we just started to deliver poultry meat to Ghana and also in the field of the medical industry, one of the leading Hungarian companies is planning to establish a medical technological hub in Accra.”

He urged countries in Europe to do more to ensure global peace. He said, “We Europeans are in a situation where we are confronted with security challenges from many directions. And we urge all parties in such security-related conflicts, wars to sit together around the same table to establish a ceasefire.”