The corporation and the relationship between Cyprus and Hungary is a true success story, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó, said on Tuesday, speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the Hungarian Embassy in Nicosia.
He noted that this ‘success story’ has been proved via economic cooperation. ‘Trade volume has increased above pound 100 million, our trade has grown by 28% within one year and as regards our export to Cyprus this has increased by 2 1/2 times,’ he explained.
Szijjártó mentioned that the Hungarian community in Cyprus started to grow very rapidly after the Brexit and that about almost 4000 Hungarians are now living in Cyprus. He also noted that last year more than 66,000 tourists had traveled to Cyprus from Hungary, taking the advantage of the direct flights.
‘We will coordinate and consult in the future about the possibility of including the findings of Cyprus, natural gas into our energetics,’ he continued. ‘Taking into consideration all those reasons, we decided to reopen
the Embassy here in Nicosia and upgrade the service that we provide to our citizens and to the Cypriot citizens,’ Szijjártó said.
He also addressed security issues, in regard with the ongoing conflicts in the proximity of both Cyprus and Hungary. ‘The world is running towards being divided into blocks again, and we all know from historic experience that this is too bad,’ he noted.
‘Mutual respect has always characterized the relationship between Cyprus and Hungary. Even if we had some issues from time to time we were able to address them and discuss them in an honest manner without any kind of hypocrisy or unfairness,’ added Szijjártó.
In his remarks, the Cypriot Foreign Minister, Constantinos Kombos, noted that ‘the key factor is always connectivity and we have that, and we should make sure that this is something we maintain and even increase because that will be bringing further trade movement of people tourist opportunities for cooperation at all levels.’
He noted the presence of Hungarians in the UN p
eacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) and told Szijjártó that Hungary has been ‘a consistent friend of Cyprus in a way that is tangible and visible and obvious to us through the contribution to the UN force.’
‘At the same time we share similar values and similar approaches on a number of issues in relation to the European Union and regional conflicts,’ Kombos added, concluding that ‘this is an excellent opportunity to work and expand and promote further this excellent, bilateral relation.’
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency