Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary must maintain the best possible relations with neighboring countries because it also benefits ethnic Hungarians living there, as demonstrated in the case of Hungary and Romania.
At a joint press conference with Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), the foreign minister said the government considered national communities as a link and resource, which also applied to the ethnic Hungarians in Transylvania and Szeklerland. Minister Szijjártó said the performance of RMDSZ was proof of the reliability of this approach, as the party’s activities “have contributed to the development of bilateral cooperation considerably”. The minister said that in the current period burdened by crises, “Hungary cannot afford not to maintain effective bilateral cooperation based on mutual respect and serving mutual interests”. The government, he added, would continue to support RMDSZ’s activities to ensure that the ethnic Hungarian communities further strengthen in Transylvania and Szeklerland. Kelemen said it was important to improve living conditions for ethnic Hungarians in Romania to stop the shrinking of the community. This requires good relations between the two countries and pragmatic cooperation, he added. “We don’t need to agree on everything … what’s most important is that the two states identify common points of view and there are a whole lot of them,” he said.
Photo credit: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter