Hungarian PM sees Pakistan among 4 countries to become world’s future big powers

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has named China, India, Pakistan, and Indonesia as the future global powers.

"Over the coming decades, possibly centuries, Asia will become the dominant center of the world," Orban stated during a speech. He predicted a shift in global power from the "irrational" West towards Asia and Russia.

"We Westerners also pushed the Russians into this bloc," Orban remarked in a televised speech to ethnic Hungarians at a festival in Baile Tusnad, Romania, on Saturday.

In power since 2010, Orban, a nationalist, described Russia's leadership as "hyper rational" and expressed skepticism that Ukraine could achieve its aspirations of joining the European Union or NATO.

Currently holding the rotating EU presidency, Orban has diverged from the rest of the bloc by fostering closer relations with Beijing and Moscow. This month, he visited Kyiv, Moscow, and Beijing for discussions on the war in Ukraine, sparking frustration among some EU leaders.

Contrasting the "weakness" of the West, Orban praised Russia's rational and predictable stance in global affairs, noting the country's economic adaptability to Western sanctions since its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

He reiterated that Ukraine would never become an EU or NATO member because "we Europeans do not have enough money for that."

Orban called for the EU to abandon its identity as a political project, suggesting it should instead focus on economic and defense initiatives.

Last month, the EU began membership talks with Ukraine, though the country faces a long and challenging path to joining the bloc.

A declaration at the recent NATO summit affirmed the alliance's support for Ukraine on its "irreversible path" to membership.