BUDAPEST, July 20. /TASS/. Hungary will assist in the transit of grain from Ukraine through its territory, but will not allow its supply to the country at dumping prices to the detriment of local farmers.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto made this comment on Thursday. He was taking part in a meeting with his colleagues from the EU countries in Brussels.
Talking to Hungarian reporters, he said that at the meeting attempts were made to reproach the countries of Central Europe for creating restrictions on the import of Ukrainian grain.
Szijjarto considers such claims unfounded. He recalled that the point of all previous agreements with Ukraine was that this grain "should be sent to Africa and the Middle East to prevent humanitarian crises, and not that it would be sold in Central Europe."
"Hungary is still ready, together with other Central European countries, to allow the transit of Ukrainian consignments of grain through its territory, but we are not talking about selling them in Hungary and destroying our food market," the Foreign Minister stressed. His press conference was broadcast on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).
Szijjarto said he "strongly rejected any suspicion that Central European countries are blocking transit traffic" from Ukraine. The minister also noted that Hungary has recently improved its transport and logistics infrastructure, which is used to deliver Ukrainian cargo.
In April, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, protecting the interests of their farmers, banned the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. Later, they canceled these measures in exchange for the decision of the European Commission to establish, first until June 5, and then until September 15, an embargo on supplies from Ukraine of four types of grains and oilseeds - wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds.
On July 19, five Central European countries announced that they had asked the European Commission to extend this embargo until the end of the year. At the same time, they allowed the transit of Ukrainian grain through their territory to world markets.