“Economic development will be the most important task and mission of the Consulate General in Lendava”, Minister of State for Economic Diplomacy Levente Magyar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Monday in the Slovenian town of Lendava (Lendva) at the opening ceremony of the new Consulate General.
The Minister of State stressed that the region had seen great progress recently; Slovenia and Hungary have been connected by several new cross-border roads and many new development projects have been launched that facilitate the increasing prosperity of the region.
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“An unprecedented scale of development projects are still under development, for the realisation of which we are counting on the Consulate General and our Slovenian friends”, he explained.
Mr. Magyar indicated that the infrastructure development projects would continue; the expansion of the M70 motorway and the construction of further roads across the border.
The Minister of State cited the 500 million forint (EUR 1.6M) development scheme due to begin in 2017 aimed at assisting farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the Prekmurje (Muravidék) region as one of the most important upcoming projects.
According to Mr. Magyar, in the interests of giving these people access “to a unique economic stimulus opportunity the likes of which has never before been available in this area”.
“The Hungarian State and the Hungarian Government is providing them with the funding to assure that it is applied in the best places and as effectively as possible”, he said, adding that “this is the first step in a planned long-term development programme on which we have been working very intensively in recent months with the local Hungarian community”.
At the opening ceremony, the politician also spoke about the fact that Hungary currently has 14 Consulate Generals and Embassies in neighbouring countries. “This partially inaugurated Consulate General is the 15th we have opened”, he added.
“Partially inaugurated because this is not its final location; we would like to find a more prestigious site for the institution in future in the city centre”, he continued.
Mr. Magyar said that in his opinion the Hungarian State had finished an uncompleted task by opening the Consulate General, because the Hungarians of the Prekmurje region had until now not had a centre where the Hungarian State could represent their interests in the form of an official representation.
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“I hope the Consulate general will be able to successfully coordinate the programmes that the two countries are realising in the interests of improving the lives of the people living here”, he stressed.
According to President of the Prekmurje Hungarian Self-Governing National Community Ferenc Horváth, the opening of the Consulate General will have a host of positive effects.
“In my opinion it could play an important role in reinforcing the Prekmurje Hungarian community and is of fundamental importance in further developing Hungarian-Slovenian relations”, he declared.
Following the opening ceremony, Mr. Magyar also held talks with representatives of Hungarian communities in the Prekmurje region.
In 2014 in Lendava, former Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi opened the consular office of the Hungarian Embassy in Ljubljana, which from now on will continue operating as a Consulate General headed by Consul General Gyula Földes.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
