Hungarian–Romanian relations suffered no irreparable damage last year, Hungarian State Secretary of Foreign Affairs Zsolt Németh told a Romanian TV channel on Sunday.
The two foreign ministries played a great part in this achievement, he stated in a nearly 30-minute interview recorded at the Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő) Summer University and aired by news channel Digi 24.
The State Secretary noted that the Summer University had been launched in 1990 with a view to creating a forum for Hungarian–Romanian dialogue and reconciliation.
Two-way ties have shown a spectacular upswing since 1996, followed by a slight halt over the past year which should not be dramatized, he said, noting that the two countries’ interests are identical in several areas.
Commenting his Romanian counterpart George Ciomba’s recent statement that Romania’s plan to redraw regions was not motivated by ethnic goals, Mr Németh said that Hungary supported the position of Romania’s Hungarian community in Szeklerland, an area inhabited by many ethnic Hungarians.
Mr Németh, who called Szeklerland a unified and indivisible region earlier this month, expressed hope that the reorganisation of Romania’s public administration would consider the fundamental, legitimate interests of the Hungarian community.
Click here to see the interview (in Hungarian with Romanian subtitles):
http://www.digi24.ro/Stiri/Digi24/Actualitate/Politica/Nemeth+Zsolt+secretar+de+stat+in+Ministerul+de+Externe+ungar+Spr
(MTI/MFA)