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 You are in: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice > What the Secretary Has Been Saying > 2005 Secretary Rice's Remarks > April 2005: Secretary Rice's Remarks

Remarks With Hungarian Foreign Minister Ferenc Somogyi After Meeting

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
April 1, 2005

(11:40 a.m. EST)

Secretary Rice speaks to press as Hungarian Foreign Minister Ferenc Somogyi looks on. Washington, DC, April 1, 2005. State Department photo.

SECRETARY RICE: Good morning. I have just had the pleasure of spending some time with my good colleague, the Foreign Minister of Hungary. Hungary is, of course, a strong ally of the United States, a member of NATO. We have had a chance to talk about a number of issues, the very good bilateral relationship that we have. We talked about our joint desire to see the Ukrainian people succeed in their march toward democracy and the work that we are doing and the work that Hungary is doing and, of course, the work that the European Union is doing.

We talked about the Hungarian contribution to the march of freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan as well, and about the Balkans in some detail because we both believe that the future of the Balkans and the security and peace in that region, of course, depends very much on the active engagement of the European Union, of the United States, of regional actors like Hungary. We had an extensive discussion of the Balkans.

All in all, I am very pleased to have you here, Foreign Minister. Hungary is a good friend and a good ally, and I look forward to working with you in the future.

FOREIGN MINISTER SOMOGYI: Thank you. I also want to start by stressing how happy I was to have a chance to come over, and after some meetings in multilateral frames, we could have it in a bilateral setup discussing the issues -- what the Secretary has just mentioned -- that are of paramount importance. Those are issues where we think the idea of Hungary that it is a major role to be played by transatlantic nations and very cooperative transatlantic relations where we could identify not only the shared principles and values, but also very directly in a very pragmatic manner the shared interests as well on the basis of which these processes are to be developed. And we were happy to have the positive response from the American side all to our efforts that are aimed to improve the chances of other countries in the region who have not yet been integrated in their efforts to be part of this Euro-Atlantic family.

As far as the bilateral relations are concerned, we are happy to note that we have very positive developments, let it be the political cooperation, the economic and business ties producing really impressive figures for the last years, and also qualitative changes into entering into a phase where much modern technology, biotech, are also involved in that cooperation.

In fact, having checked the stocktaking list, I think there is only one point pending where we are concentrating for a solution in a not very distant future. It is Hungary's wish, together with some other countries, to have the possibility of a visa waiver, which would be yet another important step. We know it's a process. We know we have our own part in it. And we simply would like to know what to do and we are committed to meet the requirements just to make it possible to have that privilege to get rid of the only existing barrier in an absolutely free development of our bilateral relations.

And of course, as it is always the case, but not only a routine matter, I've extended an invitation for my colleague to visit Budapest in the foreseeable future. And we expressed our hope that even the President can find the time sometime to meet his counterpart from Hungary.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: We have time for a couple of quick questions.

QUESTION: Dr. Rice, why should citizens of Sudan, which I believe is not a signatory to the Rome statute, be subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC, when you argue that American citizens should not be subject to it precisely because the United States is not party to the treaty?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we do believe that as a matter of principle it is important to uphold the principle that non-parties to a treaty are indeed non-parties to a treaty. Sudan is an extraordinary circumstance. I believe that it was Secretary Powell who talked about the fact that we believe a genocide is being committed in Sudan. Whatever you want to call it, there are clearly crimes against humanity being committed in Sudan and there are people who have to be held accountable for those crimes.

I would note that this comes through Security Council resolution, which does give some protection, I think, to non-parties to the treaty. But Sudan is an extraordinary circumstance. I would like to just note that we have also achieved for -- through the Security Council the passage of a peacekeeping resolution so that we can get peacekeepers on the ground to reinforce the North-South agreement that was concluded at Naivasha and we believe that that North-South agreement will be an important part of helping to resolve the Darfur difficulty.

It is also the case that we have a sanctions resolution that has just passed and we will be able to employ those tools. But the international community has to act on Darfur. It has to act with great speed. It is a humanitarian crisis, it is a moral crisis, and it is a crisis that is extraordinary in its scope and in its potential for even greater damage to those populations. So I think this is a different situation, frankly.

QUESTION: What will be the role of Hungary in the Iraqi reconstruction process? And if Hungary has any intent to go back in Iraq in some way?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, thank you. First of all, Hungary has played over time an extremely important role as an early member of the coalition in helping to stabilize Iraq and helping the Iraqi people to get an environment in which they could move forward toward the elections that they have now held and toward the formation of a government. Hungary continues to play an important role. We talked about the provision of military equipment that Hungary has promised to the Iraqi security forces, which are being built. Hungary is a part of NATO, of course, and therefore a part of the training efforts that are there, operating in Jordan also with police training.

And the Minister, who may want to describe this in greater detail, told me about plans to help with some of the administrative restructuring and technical assistance for the Iraqi people. So Hungary has been a strong supporter of Iraq's efforts to move toward democracy, a strong supporter of the coalition there, and I think will continue to be. Certainly in the discussions that we had that was the intention that was said to me.

QUESTION: Secretary, as the world prays for the Pope and the President prays for the Pope, I'm wondering if you could reflect on his legacy, not only as a religious leader, but as somebody who did so much to spread democracy in Eastern Europe.

SECRETARY RICE: The Pope is a great moral figure and as well as religious figure, one who I believe has had in some ways unparalleled impact through his great moral authority, through his willingness to speak out for people in need, through his willingness to speak out for freedom. After all, his own deep roots in Poland, as beginning there as a priest and becoming a symbol of the Polish people's desire for freedom, for religious freedom, for human rights, the Pope has been a stalwart.

And, of course, at the time when Communism was breaking down finally and needed strong people who were prepared to push those boulders aside and to make it possible for tyranny to end in Europe, the Pope was one of the most important spokesmen for and really one of the most important actors in that great drama, a drama that freed not only Poland, his homeland, but, of course, freed Hungary.

We were talking this morning -- the Foreign Minister was nice enough to bring me a book of documents about the 1956 Hungarian Revolution because he knows of my academic interest in those revolutions in Eastern Europe. And if you look at what happened in 1989 and 1990 and 1991, you cannot but help recognize the tremendous contribution of Pope John Paul II to those dramatic events and therefore to freedom. And he didn't stop there. He has continued to be a voice for those who are oppressed, for those who are seeking freedom.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, how do you see the role of Hungary in the stabilization and democratization of Eastern Europe and the northern Balkans? And did you discuss the plans to open a center for the proliferation of democracy in Budapest?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I'm going to turn to the Minister to talk about his own plans, but let me just say that Hungary, having been through the experience of breaking out of the tyranny that was faced after World War II, and having now built a strong and successful democracy, is not just a model for democracy in a passive sense but an active now player in helping others to have that same future. It's a wonderful story.

We were talking about the importance of taking wonderful stories that are happening throughout the world and turning them into concrete reality for the people -- of stability and democratic process and economic prosperity. And Hungary has done that and continues to do that and it is reaching out to help others, helping Ukraine, helping in the Balkans, helping in Iraq, helping in Afghanistan. That is something that just has to be appreciated.

When I have been at NATO or I have been at the EU, we have talked about how this community of values, this alliance of values, has to put the alliance to work to spread freedom to those who were unfortunate enough to be on the wrong side of freedom. Well, Hungary, having one time been on the wrong side of freedom and now existing on the right side of freedom, has taken an active and special role in helping others.

FOREIGN MINISTER SOMOGYI: And it is this line what I took in informing the Secretary of State about our decision to establish an international center for democracy, where the function would be to collect experience of our own, of other countries, with the aim of analyzing them and decide whether we can offer some kind of assistance, let it be training or projects developed in order to help other countries' aspirations of similar sort. And we think it is not necessarily directly but indirectly a contribution to the efforts identified within in the transatlantic links, what we consider to be of paramount importance.

And it was in that broader spirit, not necessarily closely related to this democracy center, what I would like to reiterate that during the discussions I have, of course, reiterated Hungary's commitment to continue to be a reliable partner, a predictable ally, both in the bilateral framework of our cooperation and also in broader frameworks, let it be within NATO or in the transatlantic cooperation of countries belonging to that family of nations.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. Thank you very much.

FOREIGN MINISTER SOMOGYI: Thank you.

2005/369


Released on April 1, 2005

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