Minister of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Enikő Győri discussed the issue of a sustainable social system and Hungarian experiences with relation to economic crisis management during her talks in Peru, and was informed by her partners that the government in Lima would be ready to fund scholarships for the study of Peruvian students in Hungary.

On Wednesday, Enikő Győri held talks with José Beraún Aranibar, Peru's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and with Peruvian Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade Carlos Posada Ugaz about drawing relations between the two countries closer. Her partners were especially interested in the system of family taxation, as well solutions for empowering small and medium enterprises in Hungary.

It was also mentioned that there is no economic crisis in Peru, “together with other countries of Latin America, the country has recovered, its macro-economic indicators are good, they do not reflect the problems in Europe”, because state debt is low, budget deficit is not rampant and unemployment is also being kept at bay. The experiences of social policy are interesting for Peru because the Government in Budapest is not implementing the change model of affluent, Western-European countries, but is instead endeavouring to operate a modest, tailor-made, sustainable social system – she added.
A few years ago, Hungary was forced to close its diplomatic missions in Latin America; this decision is being reviewed now and – as Enikő Győri revealed – “we are considering where to reopen missions in relation to available resources”. As a first step a travelling ambassador will be appointed, who is going to visit Peru several times a year.

The Hungarian politician was invited by the Spanish group of the European People’s Party to speak at the conference organized by the Robert Schuman Foundation and the St. Ignatius of Loyola University of Lima.

On Thursday, Enikő Győri is meeting with the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia in La Paz and also hopes to visit Előd Tóásó, a citizen of Hungary who was arrested by Bolivian Special Forces in 2009, in prison. As Győri revealed, she primarily wished to gather information about the intentions of the authorities. “It is not my objective to interfere in a criminal case” – she said, also highlighting that she wished to ensure that the human rights of this Hungarian citizen were being respected.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)