Foreign Minister Navracsics: Poland, Hungary support independent, democratic Ukraine

Budapest, July 14 (MTI) – Poland and Hungary agree it is their interest to see an independent, democratic Ukraine with its territorial integrity unharmed, the Hungarian ministry of foreign affairs said on Monday.

Foreign Minister Tibor Navracsics and his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski also said after talks in Warsaw that Kiev should observe the Council of Europe’s conventions on minority rights.

Hungary and Poland have few open issues, the ministers said at a press conference during Navracsics’s one-day visit to the Polish capital.

The ministers agreed that their governments would raise the annual budget of a fund for the exchange of civil organisations and youth programmes from 20,000 to 30,000 euros for each country next year. Their mutual embassies would support programmes that facilitate cooperation between schools, non-governmental organisations and churches, they agreed.

Hungary proposed to make 2016 the year of Hungarian culture in Poland. The Polish side welcomed the proposal.

Navracsics presented to Sikorski the Hungarian state’s Order of Merit, Middle Cross with Star distinction for his efforts in boosting cooperation with Hungary within Central Europe, Europe and at intergovernmental and diplomatic forums.

Navracsics also laid a wreath at a memorial to Jozsef Antall Senior, a government commissioner who helped extend aid to Polish refugees in 1939-1944.

Photo: MTI – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zsolt Burger

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