Trump, Hungarian PM discuss ties over phone

U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had discussed two-way ties as new U.S. ambassador to Budapest will take his post next week, a Hungarian minister said Saturday.

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto detailed the content of the phone call, quoted by Hungarian news agency MTI.

"According to Trump, the new Ambassador, David Cornstein, is a great man, whose arrival provides an opportunity to further improve bilateral relations," Szijjarto said.

Trump and Orban, known for their tough stance against migration, also discussed the importance of the protection of borders, and agreed that a "country that could not defend its own borders could no longer be called a country", according to Szijjarto.

Szijjarto said that Trump had encouraged Orban to defend the southern border of Hungary.

After the 2015 migration crisis, Orban ordered the erection of a protection fence along the border with its southern neighbor Serbia, to halt any further possible migration wave.

Orban told Trump that Hungary was committed in continuing its migration policy and defending the borders of Hungary.

The European Union is deeply divided on the management of migrants, with countries such as Germany, France and the Netherlands more favorable to a relocation scheme of refugees whereas Central European countries such as Poland, Hungary and Slovakia were against such a policy.