Tarlos, Moscow mayor discuss cooperation

Moscow, December 12 (MTI) – The municipalities of Budapest and Moscow agreed to make preparations for a cooperation agreement to be signed next year during the Budapest mayor’s visit to Moscow.

Istvan Tarlos met Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Friday to discuss progress on the agreement. Tarlos is attending at Sobyanin’s invitation an international Urbanism Forum which started in Moscow on Thursday. The mayors of 12 metropolises and major cities of the world are attending.

A minister of the Moscow municipal government has been invited for talks in Budapest in January to coordinate on the agreement which is expected to be signed later in 2015, Tarlos told MTI. He said the aim was to revive relations that had existed between the two capitals under the previous mayors of Budapest’s Gabor Demszky and Moscow’s Yuri Luzhkov that had “flattened a bit.”

Tarlos said Budapest seeks cooperation with Moscow in urban policy issues, but added his view that city politicians can do a lot to improve country-to-country relations as well.

He said he and Sobyanin shared experiences regarding the two capitals’ public transport systems, the maintenance and development of public spaces and homelessness. They also discussed tourism development projects and culture. These are possible areas for cooperation, he added.

Tarlos told Sobyanin that Budapest would live up to its promise of designating a worthy place for a new Moscow Square.

Photo: tpsdave

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