János Martonyi met the Hungarian community in the Hungarian House of Sao Paulo on May 16th, 2012. The Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasised in his speech the fact that the new Fundamental Law of Hungary took responsibility for the Hungarian communities and the importance of and support for the preservation of national identity.

Most of the approximately 100 thousand Hungarians in Brazil live in Sao Paulo. The intellectual centre of the community is the Hungarian House, which promotes the preservation of the cultural and linguistic identity of the local Hungarians in several ways. A Hungarian language school, scouting, folk dance training, the open universities for adults, and a retirement home supported by the community all serve this aim.

Speaking to the representatives of the Hungarians in Brazil, the Foreign Minister emphasised the importance of the cooperation and the establishment of networks by the Hungarians living abroad. He informed the audience about the Fundamental Law’s responsibility for Hungarian communities, as well as the importance of and support for the preservation of national identity. He presented the three priorities of Hungarian foreign policy: work on strengthening the European integration, the promotion of Central European cooperation, and the recently announced global opening policy. The Hungarians in Brazil play a special part in the implementation of the latter. It is the local Hungarian community that benefits from the re-establishment of our diplomatic representation in Sao Paulo with a consular office and a diplomat specialised in international economy. The Minister expressed special thanks to the Hungarians in the West including this community for standing up against unjust criticism of Hungary.

In addition, ten people took the oath of citizenship; there were more than one of them whose ancestors came from the Old World. Following the simplified naturalisation process, the new citizens received their certificate of naturalisation from the Foreign Minister.

The Minister announced that Hungary – feeling responsible for the Hungarian communities abroad – contributed 700 thousand forints to the renovation of the Hungarian House, which had served to preserve Hungarian culture in Brazil from generation to generation for more than 25 years.

(kormany.hu)