BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 23. Constructing bridges between East and West and creating a safe transit route between the EU and China should be one of the most important tasks for the coming years, Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó said, TurkicWorld reports.

He spoke at the 18th meeting of the SPECA board of directors.

"I believe that strengthening cooperation between Central Asian states is the real engine of Europe," the minister emphasized.

Hungary, he claims, is interested in East-West collaboration.

"In this context, Central Asia serves as a vital link between East and West." As a result, every initiative that improves Central Asia's position and encourages collaboration among its countries deserves support. "We support all efforts aimed at making Central Asia a bridge between East and West," Szijjártó continued.

The UN SPECA program was established on March 26, 1998.

At present, the SPECA member states are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

SPECA provides a platform for sub-regional cooperation to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that can best be achieved through regional cooperation.

Azerbaijan is chairing the program in 2023 and hosting SPECA Days in Baku on November 20–24, 2023.