“The appointment of the US negotiator could determine whether there is openness and good will towards reach an agreement, in view of the fact that an inter-state or inter-governmental agreement requires a negotiating partner who possesses a suitable mandate for concluding an agreement between the governments of the two countries”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at an impromptu press conference prior to a summit of the Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists in Budapest on Wednesday.

Mr Szijjártó added that he sees no reason why an agreement of this kind could not be reached. If the governments of Malaysia, Thailand and China are capable of concluding an agreement with the Hungarian Government on the operations of their universities in Hungary, then he doesn’t see why the US Government would fail to conclude similar agreements with regard to “outstanding American universities”.

The Hungarian Foreign Minister told the press that in the case of the United States there are three universities operating in Hungary, which in his view are “important enough universities” to warrant an interstate or inter-governmental agreement setting down their operating conditions.

He also said that the Deputy State Secretary entrusted with the negotiations has held discussions with the embassies of all four non-EU countries with universities operating in Hungary, and that during the negotiations so far neither the Thai, nor the Malaysian or Chinese embassies had seen any difficulties at all with regard to conforming to the set conditions and will be requesting the necessary mandates from their capitals.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)