Fears in the press regarding the termination of Hungarian-Estonian relations on the closure of the Hungarian embassy in Tallinn are unreasonable, and the Hungarian institution operating in the Estonian capital is even strengthened by the Government, answered Monika Balatoni, State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Hungarian News Agency this Thursday.

The State Secretary emphasized that the importance of continuous Hungarian presence in the Baltic country is due to Hungarian-Estonian relations and especially, the cultural and educational cooperation between the two countries. The closure of the embassy in Tallinn is justified by rationalisation, as she explained. She added that consular duties will be carried out subsequently by the embassy in Helsinki.

Monika Balatoni emphasized that the Government definitely would like to keep the Hungarian institute operating in Estonia and to even pull linguistic and cultural ties between the two nations closer, so the institution will be strengthened. As she said, “Estonia is an important partner in caring for our cultural heritage”, so the Hungarian institution will continue to operate there and remain an important basis of linguistic, cultural and scientific relations.

She explained that Hungarian cultural diplomatic presence has also been realized in a number of forms in different countries; there are countries where a Cultural Attaché works at the Embassy or the Consulate General, or diplomats dealing with scientific, educational and cultural relations are engaging in an embassy’s work. As she added, in twenty-one countries Balassi Institutes operate too.

According to the State Secretary, from an economic and infrastructural point of view, this system is unsustainable, as “a lot of ministries and a plenty of information” are under question. As she pointed out, the Government therefore – in permanent consultation with partner organizations and ministries – would like to rationalise the network of diplomats in order to see management fall within the State Secretariat for Cultural Diplomacy, thereby creating a more efficient system. As she remarked, this step is necessary because there are countries where, for example, several scientific diplomats are working, while in others – especially in Eastern countries – not a single person of such.

Monika Balatoni said that in many cases the care for scientific and cultural cooperation is not closely related to the work of the embassy; so it was in Tallinn, where the embassy and the Hungarian institution worked separately, so relations between the two countries are not threatened by the closure of the embassy.

Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Anna Nagy announced a month ago that from 15 September, the embassy in Tallinn will cease to function, but the Hungarian cultural institute will continue to work there regardless of the closure of the embassy. The Government also decided on the closing of the Cypriot embassy, while at the same time on opening new embassies in Mongolia and Ecuador.

(MTI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)