Before the Hungarian-Argentinean bilateral diplomatic discussions, János Martonyi met the representatives of the Hungarians living in the South American state during his official visit to Argentina: he commemorated József Mindszenty, attended an oath of citizenship ceremony, and presented the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary to the editor-in-chief of the Argentínai Magyar Hírlap (Hungarian Journal of Argentina).

The Foreign Minister attended the Sunday mass celebrated on the anniversary of the death of József Mindszenty in the Mindszentynum in Buenos Aires on May 13th, 2012. The Mindszentynum, which was founded in 1979, is one of the oldest, most important and elegant institutions of the Hungarian community of 30-40 000 people in Argentina. The institution has been the spiritual and intellectual centre of local Hungarians for nearly four decades. Following the mass in Spanish, the Foreign Minister gave a short speech to greet the members of the Hungarian community. He highlighted that the government aimed at laying new foundations for the Hungarian state’s relations with Hungarians. He emphasised that Hungary counts on the support of the Hungarian communities abroad in conveying a positive image of the country and developing the economic and cultural relations between Hungary and the country of their choice.

In the presence of János Martonyi at the Embassy, three newly naturalised Hungarian citizens took the oath of citizenship, including Juan Mártony, Hungary’s Honorary Consul in Montevideo originating from the former Upper Hungary, who has been representing the country in Uruguay for more than a decade.

The Foreign Minister presented the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary to Zsuzsanna Haynalné Kesserű, editor-in-chief of the Argentínai Magyar Hírlap (Hungarian Journal of Argentina) for her selfless and active participation in preserving the identity of the Hungarians in Latin America and for her work as a publisher and editor. The journal is currently the only periodical publication of Latin America in Hungarian, which is not only read by the Hungarians in Argentina but by other communities in Latin America as well.

The central message of János Martonyi’s meetings was that the new Hungarian foreign policy with a global approach counts on the Hungarians living abroad to a particularly great extent, including the Hungarian communities in Latin America, which are estimated to have 150-200 000 members.

(kormany.hu)