Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén said every nation and every minority represents "a unique and singular set of values" which only the given minority can give to humankind.
The deputy prime minister told an international conference, which focused on the situation of national minorities in the EU, that what gives humankind a wealth of values is the diversity of nations and nationalities.
"It is therefore a duty of every state to help preserve the values of the minorities," he told the event which has been organized as part of the ongoing Hungarian EU presidency.