HUNGARY: Slovak President meets Hungarian counterpart and Prime Minister in Budapest

Record ID: 860754

  • Title: HUNGARY: Slovak President meets Hungarian counterpart and Prime Minister in Budapest
  • Date: 19th February 2013
  • Summary: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (FEBRUARY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) ( * BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) DANUBE AND PARLIAMENT EXTERIOR OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE WITH DELEGATION OF SLOVAK PRESIDENT IVAN GASPAROVIC ARRIVING HUSSARS LEADING GASPAROVIC'S CAR
  • Embargoed: 6th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • City:
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA55M5D29MG232DE271MFMOCMOA
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic pays a two-day official visit to Budapest to meet with Hungarian President Janos Ader and Prime Minister Viktor Orban.


    The Presidents of Hungary and Slovakia met for the first time in nine years for official bilateral talks on Tuesday (February 19) in the Hungarian capital.
    The relationship between the two countries has often been tense mostly over minority issues in the past years.
    On Tuesday, Slovak president Ivan Gasparovic and Hungarian president Janos Ader vowed to improve relations in a mutually respectful way in the future.
    After the talks Gasparovic and Ader both agreed that the most disputed issues remain but they would try to solve them in the near future.
    "Although the differences remain in the most important disputed issues I think that we have still made an important step towards making these issues a part of the past soon," Ader said.
    Both presidents stressed the importance of improving the lives of the minorities in each country and vowed to strengthen bilateral economic relations as well.
    "As far as the respect of the rights of the minorities living in the two countries are concerned: here we agreed that we must help these rights be fulfilled and although in a few disputed questions we take a different legal concept and legal base, we agreed that we must regard the minorities as enriching part of our countries," said Gasparovic.
    The presidents also said that recent new economic projects that were agreed last year by Slovak PM Robert Fico and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban would further improve relations.
    Gasparovic meets with Orban in the afternoon but their meeting was not open to media.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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