Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos visits Hungary

Budapest, 2018. május 11. Juan Manuel Santos kolumbiai államfõ (b) és Orbán Viktor miniszterelnök sajtónyilatkozatot tesz megbeszélésüket követõen az Országházban 2018. május 11-én. MTI Fotó: Kovács Tamás

Hungary can learn a lot from the efforts that Colombia makes to develop one of the most competitive economies in the world, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Friday after talks with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

“Colombia has ambitious plans for the future, the same way as Hungarians have also set some great plans,” Orbán said at a joint press conference with Santos, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Colombia “is doing a number of things that we Hungarians could learn from, copy and utilise after certain adjustments,”

he added.

Orbán also said that a scholarship scheme by Hungary to be expanded in the near future included Colombia and both countries have re-opened their embassies in each other’s capitals.

He described Santos as “a real hero” and said “we have gained a new friend” who understands that cooperation with neighbouring countries and regionalism will have great significance in the future.

Santos said it was a great honour to be the first president meeting Orbán after his re-election.

He congratulated Orbán on Hungary standing out in Europe with its good economic indicators, high growth rate and accelerated development.

Orbán represents policies that are very similar to those that Colombia has developed in order to boost competitiveness, he added.

He urged Hungarian investors to get acquainted with Colombia and called for stronger ties between the Visegrad Group and the Pacific Community.

Santos invited Orbán to pay a visit to Colombia, which the prime minister accepted.

As we wrrote on April, Professor Rut Diamint visited Budapest at the beginning of April on the invitation of LATIMO and the Argentine embassy of Budapest. She is one of the most acclaimed experts in South American security policy.