UNHCR Budapest centre set for expansion

Budapest, July 14 (MTI) – The Budapest service centre of the UN Refugee Agency will expand both in terms of area and the size of its staff, a foreign ministry state secretary said in Budapest on Tuesday.

Istvan Mikola told a press conference that the UNHCR centre would be relocated to the Duna Tower office building in Budapest’s 13th district, thus providing a work area 3,300 square metres larger than the current facility and the infrastructure needed for its operations.

Mikola said the service centre would add 150-200 people to its current staff of 230, with most of the new personnel being Hungarian citizens.

The government decided on the expansion last month, the state secretary noted.

He said the service centre costs an annual 337 million forints (EUR 1.1m), part of which Hungary “can write off” from its contributions made to the UNHCR.

Mikola said the global service centre allowed Hungary to carry out a professional dialogue and receive input regarding global issues, which he said was essential under recent developments.

The state secretary said Rossella Pagliuchi-Lor, head of the global service centre would soon make an official visit to the foreign ministry.

The UNHCR service centre was opened in February 2008.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters