Foreign Minister János Martonyi held talks with French counterpart Laurent Fabius in Paris on 29 October and the two agreed on maintaining cooperation in economic and cultural projects.

Minister Martonyi stated that last year 500-600 million euros worth of French investment was made in Hungary. As a result, the total amount of French investment in Hungary is currently up at 11 billion euros, he said, adding that several large projects are under preparation by French firms including Dalkia, Eloy, Epco, Eurotranspharma and Astrium. He said the French minister assured him that he would "continue encouraging French companies to invest in Hungary."

Minister Martonyi handed Head of EU Affairs at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jean-Michel Casa the Hungarian Order of Merit, followed by a roundtable discussion at the French Institute for Foreign Affairs, where company CEOs, politicians and leading intellectuals were also present.

The monumental exhibition, titled Allegro Barbaro, presenting Hungarian modernist painters in the Musée d'Orsay next October will be co-patroned by the two countries’ heads of states. The joint opening event will hopefully create the possibility for a meeting between President János Áder and President François Hollande.

Minister Martonyi underlined that at the moment, nine Hungarian universities have French language courses and in the near future, with the cooperation of the two countries, following the example of Gyula Andrássy German Language University of Budapest, a separate French language university will open its doors in Szeged, based on the international relations course of the European Affairs Centre of the Law Faculty (SZTE ÁJTK). The theoretical decision is already there - as the Minister informed - and the Government decision is to be expected in the near future.

European issues were discussed as well and Minister János Martonyi presented the Hungarian position on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - leading point on the agenda of the November EU summit - and pointed out that a 30% loss of resources would be unacceptable for Hungary.

After the meeting, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that the French side understood the Hungarian position and "will support us within its possibilities". "Our interests do not coincide here; hence we can only ask that they understand that such a loss compared to the present amount would be unbearable for us ... However it is evident that concerning the CAP we totally agree as in that case, our interests are almost the same" - he added.

(MTI, Ministry of Foreign Affairs)