1st LD Writethru-Roundup: Hungary should explore southern markets: PM

Hungary, which is an integral part of the West, has opened its doors to the East, and now it is time to explore Southern business opportunities, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Monday.

Orban's Eastern Opening policy aims to tighten commercial, political and cultural relations with Asian countries.

Addressing a two-day meeting of Hungarian ambassadors, Orban said the strategy of opening to the East had been successful and that its initial phases should be finished by year-end.

He added he would undertake summit visits to Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, local wire service MTI reported.

Hungary needs to complete its opening to the South within the next year or two, so foreign policy will be targeting Africa and Latin America, Orban noted.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto would soon begin visiting the Southern regions in preparation for summit visits in 2016, he said.

Regarding the West, two referendums adopted by the Hungarian people -- one to join NATO and the other to join the European Union -- have "put us squarely and irrevocably in the West, giving no one in public life a right to question where we belong," Orban said.

He underlined his intentions to stick with a foreign policy resting on national interests. Acknowledging that an independent foreign policy was "sometimes uncomfortable," he said it would pay off in the long term.

Disputes are not conflicts, Orban said, adding "there is no need to keep bringing ideological issues to the forefront. We need to concentrate on areas where we can cooperate."

Hungary's job is not to seek compromise even though it often comes about on its own, he said. Instead, we need to get countries to take an interest in a successful Hungary, Orban said.

Orban announced his government was preparing to submit a proposal to parliament for Hungary to join the Western military coalition combating the so-called Islamic State. Endit