Iohannis to meet with Hungarian counterpart in first visit in 14 years
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis will visit Hungary on Wednesday, October 11, at the invitation of Hungarian President Katalin Novák. This will be the first official visit to Budapest by a Romanian president in 14 years.
The visit comes amid a recent increase in high-level contacts between the two countries, following Novák’s visit to Bucharest in September 2022 and his participation in the 8th Three Seas Initiative Summit hosted by Iohannis in September 2023.
“The visit is an opportunity to discuss the state of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries and the prospects for its development, as well as concrete ways to deepen bilateral dialogue,” the Romanian Presidency said in a statement.
In Budapest, Iohannis will stress that the Strategic Partnership is “a fundamental instrument that has aimed to structure bilateral cooperation on new, modern, pragmatic, and mutually respectful bases, for the benefit of all Romanian and Hungarian citizens, regardless of ethnicity.”
“The framework it has provided has led to significant economic results over the past 20 years, through the growth and diversification of trade,” the Romanian Presidency said.
Iohannis will also reiterate Romania’s interest and openness to “constructive, pragmatic, and transparent cooperation with Hungary” in order to “develop projects of common interest and achieve concrete results, based on and in the spirit of the principles and values included in the fundamental documents that define the parameters of the bilateral relationship.”
The two presidents will also discuss the current situation at the regional, European, and global levels, in the context of the war in Ukraine. They will focus on security, energy, food, and supply chain implications. In this context, they will also address measures to support the most affected partners in the region, particularly Moldova.
On the European agenda, they will discuss the priorities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will take place in the second half of 2024.
Romanian-Hungarian relations are based on the Treaty of Understanding, Cooperation, and Good Neighborliness between Romania and the Republic of Hungary, signed and entered into force in 1996, as well as the Declaration of Strategic Partnership between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Republic of Hungary for Europe in the 21st Century, signed in Budapest on November 29, 2002.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
