Azerbaijani-Hungarian friendship enables expansion of institute for blind children

Budapest, September 17 (MTI) – Friendship between Azerbaijani and Hungarian people and an alliance spanning over cultures and religions have enabled the expansion of the Laszlo Batthyany Institute for Blind Children in Budapest, constructed in part from Azerbaijani funds, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday.

“A Muslim foundation in a Muslim country has helped a Catholic community in a Christian country fulfil its dream”, Szijjarto said at the ceremonial opening of the institute’s new wing.

The institute is run by the Hungarian Catholic Charity and Azerbaijan’s Heydar Aliyev Foundation contributed 240 million forints (EUR 770,000) to the development project’s total costs of 500 million forints.

Szijjarto said that supporting the weak and helping children were the most important aims endorsed by both Islam and Christian-Catholic teachings.

Anar Alakbarov, the managing director of the Azerbaijani foundation, said that the Heydar Aliyev Foundation was the largest civil organisation in Azerbaijan and added that Azerbaijani-Hungarian relations were based on mutual respect. It is very important for the foundation to promote the Azeri tradition of tolerance, which is why it has contributed to building synagogues, Orthodox and Catholich churches in the country and throughout Europe, he added.

Photo: MTI

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