Hungary sees business opportunity in Ukraine

Hungary is providing the Transcarpathian Hungarian community will all the support it possibly can to ensure that Hungarians living in western Ukraine can stay where they are, Péter Szilágyi, the deputy state secretary for the policy for Hungarian communities abroad, said in Toronto at a fund-raising event. Deputy foreign minister Levente Magyar said in Uzhorod that Hungary is willing and able to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Szilágyi said the relationship between the diaspora and Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin was deepening thanks to the work of the past years. He said that Hungary in 2023, “the year of the caring nation”, was dedicated to nurturing national values and looking after Hungarian communities in neighboring countries and in the diaspora. Regarding the war in Ukraine, he said at the event held on Saturday local time that Hungary was determined not to get dragged into it, and it called for a ceasefire and peace negotiations. Hungary continues to give priority to supporting schools and organisations of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community, he said, thanking the National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada for organising the fundraising event.

Hungary city sends buses to Ukraine

Helping those in need in line with “our strength, size and abilities” is a basic moral duty, a government official said in Uzhorod on Sunday, at the arrival of six buses donated to Ukraine by the city of Veszprém, in central Hungary. The buses are the first shipment of 14 used vehicles, to be delivered to Ukrainian cities where the war destroyed the public transport fleet, Levente Magyar said. One will serve in Transcarpathia, in western Ukraine, he added.

• Hungary is willing and able to contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine,

he said. During the visit, Magyar said he would also aim to review current issues regarding Ukrainian-Hungarian ties, which he said had been “disturbed by regulatory issues regarding the Hungarian minority here which we couldn’t agree on.” He said he hoped for “good will and understanding” from Ukrainian partners to find a “reassuring, if not comprehensive, solution”.

Magyar will also visit Hungarian-funded infrastructure developments in Bucha and Borodyanka, two localities near Kyiv, occupied and destroyed by the Russian army early in the war. “Despite the appearances some wish to maintain, Hungary has an active part in aiding Ukraine,” he said. Magyar also met ethnic Hungarian leaders in Beherove (Beregszász) earlier in the day, and said he had hopes that the “issues around the use of the mother tongue, an extremely sensitive one for the local Hungarian minority, could be brought to a resting point.”

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Source: MTI