The Visegrad Four plus Japan Exchange Year was formally launched in Tokyo on Tuesday. Marking the 10th anniversary of the Visegrad Four group's relations with Japan, the programme aims to promote trade, science and technology exchanges and cooperation, and to bolster political, diplomatic and cultural relations between Japan and the V4 countries of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

Hungary was represented by MFA Deputy State Secretary Gergely Prőhle, who stated that the Exchange Year is much more than an annual bilateral programme, since it is so comprehensive. This is the first time that the V4 has organised a programme on such a scale with another country, he added.

Within the framework of the Exchange Year, the MFA political directors of the V4 countries will be holding a meeting in Tokyo in the near future. Several cultural events will also be organised that include a June concert tour in Japan by Hungary's National Philharmonic Orchestra, Gergely Prőhle announced.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)