Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán is meeting former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for talks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Friday, the PM’s press chief said. The Hungarian delegation headed by Orbán arrived at Mar-a-Lago at 5pm local time, and are scheduled to have an hour-long meeting with Trump and his team, Bertalan Havasi told MTI. The talks will be followed by a dinner and a concert, he said,
Daily News Hungary reports.
Having a strong president in the White House always ensures a form of stability for global security, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday ahead of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s meeting with Donald Trump in Florida, adding that if Trump returned, the United States could again be led by a strong president. Orbán is set to meet the former US president in Palm Beach later in the day which will be their third bilateral meeting.
The foreign ministry cited Szijjártó as saying that the substantial lead Trump established in the Republican primaries this week practically guaranteed his nomination for the November election. “So we can say that our prime minister will soon be meeting the Republican challenger [to the Democratic presidential candidate],” Szijjártó said.
Szijjártó said he was convinced that had Donald Trump been elected US president in 2020, the war in Ukraine would not have happened, and the conflict in the Middle East could be resolved much faster. He underscored that Hungary-US relations were at their peak when Trump was the president of the United States.
Meanwhile, Szijjártó said he will hold talks on boosting bilateral economic ties, underlining the importance of cooperation with Florida. He said he will meet with the head of the recently established Hungarian Chamber of Business and Commerce in Florida as well as representatives of electronics maker Jabil, which employs 4,000 people in Hungary.
Other Florida-based businesses also have significant investments in Hungary, he said, adding that the Hungarian Chamber of Business and Commerce could be of help to the several Hungarian companies interested in entering the Florida market.
The minister said that if Florida were an independent state, it would be the world’s 14th largest economy, adding that this made cooperation with the state important. Trade turnover between Hungary and Florida came to 300 million US dollars last year, he said. Szijjártó also mentioned Hungary’s cooperation with Florida in sports, noting the rising popularity of teqball, a Hungarian invention, in the state.