Molnár makes commitment to protecting nuclear treaty
Jessica Patchett / Editor in Chief
László Molnár is a man with vision. Born in
Budapest, Hungary, Molnár reflects on his life’s
work thus far and finds that New York City has become his
second home, and the world his office. His coworkers are
leaders of the international community, presidents and prime
ministers, ambassadors and leaders of multi-lateral
organizations. His current task: to find among them new
approaches to one of the world’s most explosive issues.
Ambassador Molnár is the Permanent Representative of
the Republic of Hungary to the United Nations and the
Chairman of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the 2005
Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT).
Molnár was at Elon on Friday to discuss his special
PrepCom assignment with students and faculty.
“By itself, it is the mother of all treaties, which
deals with all aspects of nuclear energy - peaceful and
non-peaceful,” Molnár said. Molnár has held
several positions in Hungary’s foreign ministry, one
specifically overseeing the issue of non-proliferation and
nuclear arms control.
Molnár’s current assignment to serve PrepCom
parallels the treaty’s five-year cycle in which several
preparatory meetings culminate in the 2005 Review Conference
of the NPT. Molnár was the chairman of the second of
three international reviews of the NPT last spring and he
will preside as vice chairman at the last preparatory meeting
April 26 in New York.
Molnár’s commitment to finding solutions to
problems posed by the treaty is evident in his frequent
travels around the world. He said his vision for PrepCom is
to strengthen the current treaty review process in light of
recent events concerning Korea, Iran and other nations, he
says.
“The integrity of the treaty is in danger,”
Molnár says, explaining that his work is urgent. His
itinerary for the next year is littered with visits to
various multilateral organizations, nations and groups
meeting in regards to non-proliferation. Molnár’s
term as PrepCom chairman ends with the conference in 2005.
But Molnár’s commitment to protecting and
strengthening the treaty transcends the time he is assigned
to PrepCom. Already, Molnár has the foresight to prepare
the next chairman to continue work on this project.
“I represent the institution of memory for the next
chairman because to that time I am the caretaker,”
Molnár says. “Now I go to Europe to talk to NATO,
then to France, then Geneva - it is a very special
assignment.”
Molnár takes this special assignment during his term as
permanent ambassador to the U.N. in New York, which ends this
year. This is Molnár’s 12th year in New York,
following other posts as deputy ambassador of the Republic of
Hungary to the UN and Consul General of the Republic of
Hungary in New York.
“It was my intention as a student to join the foreign
service,” says Molnár. “It came when I was
20 or so … I consider myself extremely lucky because I
have had very nice positions both abroad and in the ministry
in Budapest”
Molnár’s current position is one of newspaper
headlines and international influence – one that
Molnár appears comfortable in as he speaks calmly and
intentionally about his regular tasks.
“It is a colorful and complex job because the U.N. has
a broad range of issues,” he said. “My main role
is to represent my country’s position in each issue.
“This role is increasingly being defined by the
position of the EU, but there are still many other working
areas where we can represent our own national positions such
as peacekeeping, conflict prevention, post conflict
peacemaking, hunger, aids, development in AIDS
awareness.”
Molnár emphasizes his people’s desire to reach
the donor status in international relations.
“Up to now, we have been on the receiving side. Now we
want to be on the giving side,” Molnár said.
As Hungary strives to revolutionize its status as a
receiving country, Molnár works to provide insight into
other aspects of the Hungarian foreign ministry, such as the
lifelong work of an ambassador.
“We are trying to establish a system in the foreign
ministry more like that of the U.S. One that is more
transparent,” Molnár said.
Molnár’s career in the foreign service will come
to a turning point at the end of this year following the 2005
Review Conference.
“This conference is not determining my career as such.
I will most probably go back to my country and serve in the
foreign ministry,” Molnár says. “Budapest is
my hometown and it is a beautiful place - that is where I
belong to.”
But Molnár has other options, as well.
“I think of leaving the foreign ministry and going to
the academic life. I love to teach. I think it is a very
healthy way of doing a new duty for a couple of years. If I
can work this out, I can write a book and teach and then go
back- like a sabbatical.”
Molnár is in high demand around the world. Other
international organizations have indicated that they would
propose a post for Molnár.
The one sector Molnár will not consider: private
business.
“I am a civil servant,” he says.
Molnár’s history, from the time he envisioned a
career in the Hungarian foreign ministry, is in international
relations.
Molnár graduated from the University of Economic
Sciences in Budapest 1982 and applied for a post in the
ministry of foreign affairs. After taking the entry exam,
Molnár was not immediately accepted and worked for a
university instead as an assistant professor.
After obtaining a PhD in international relations in 1989,
Molnár joined the ministry and was assigned to Vienna as
a member of the Hungarian Delegation to the Negotiations on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. He returned to Hungary
to work in the ministry before serving in New York, where he
did post- doctorate studies at the Fletcher School at Tufts
University and the JFK School of Diplomacy at Harvard.
Molnár now has two children, a son, 17, who lives in
Hungary, and a daughter, 21, who is studying international
relations in New York.
“Perhaps she will do the same thing I am doing,”
Molnár says.
Although a man of vision, as a father and a world leader,
Molnár often takes the role of listener and facilitator.
Just as Molnár can only lead PrepCom and the 2005 review
Conference of the NPT so far with proposals of what he sees
and what he hears, Molnár says he will allow his
daughter to choose whether she will join him in an office
that spans continents.
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