Marcos ready for new partnerships with Hungary

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos is ready to form new partnerships with Hungary as its Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó yesterday paid a courtesy call at Malacañang to discuss ties between Manila and Budapest.

This is Szijjártó’s third visit to the Philippines.

In 2017, he met with then-acting foreign affairs secretary Enrique Manalo and paid a courtesy call on former president Rodrigo Duterte.

He returned to the country three years later and met with former foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr.

“I hope that with all that is happening around the world and all of the opportunities, of course there are challenges, and all the opportunities also that is – that we’ll be able to hopefully forge new relationships,” Marcos told Szijjártó.

Szijjártó thanked Marcos for the warm welcome and vowed to find ways to further strengthen relations between the two countries.

“You have great secretaries with whom I’ll be working together for a long time,” Szijjártó said.

“We still have a big room to maneuver... we will find ways to further improve that,” he added.

Hungary has generally been supportive of the Philippines in European Union and United Nations discussions on human rights and alleged extrajudicial killings, as per its policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other countries, according to the Presidential Communications Office.

Hungary was the Philippines’ 46th trading partner, 30th export market and 64th import source last year.

There are more than 16,000 Filipinos in Hungary as of December 2023.

Many of them are working as automotive technicians, machine operators, drivers, forklift operators, hotel workers, farm workers, warehouse workers, logistics operators and truck drivers.