The friendship between Hungarians and Poles is an unbreakable, "emotional-historical" bond, said Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi in Budapest on Wednesday.

Minister Martonyi attended a celebration at the Institute of Military History with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski.

Sikorski, who is in Budapest for signing a declaration of the Visegrad countries earlier in the day, was presented with a Polish-made Mors model machine gun.

The Minister said he trusted the Poles would take good care of the weapon, the same way that the leaders of both countries have always nurtured the alliance and friendship between Hungary and Poland.

Sikorski said the machine gun evoked "our shared but difficult history". Such symbolic gestures help maintain and strengthen Hungarian-Polish friendship, he added, remembering how Hungary had welcomed Polish refugees on its territory in World War II.

The foreign ministers of V4 (Visegrad) countries and Croatia issued a declaration on Wednesday to build on the strengths of regional cooperation by harnessing the advantages of Croatia's membership of the European Union.

The declaration notes that Croatia is to join the EU on July 1, the same day Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the V4 (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia).

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)