During his visit to Canada, Parliamentary State Secretary Zsolt Németh declared that issues concerning Hungarian Roma immigrants in Canada have been resolved thanks to continuous bilateral dialogue, thereby bypassing any reintroduction of visas for Hungarian visitors.

In February, Canada’s Immigration Ministry reported that the number of Hungarian asylum-seekers had dropped to almost zero after Canada introduced a more stringent evaluation system for immigrants.

Zsolt Németh, on his three-day visit to Canada, held talks with Minister for Immigration Jason Kenney, Deputy Foreign Minister Morris Rosenberg, Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee  Raynell Andreychuk, and with members of the Canadian Parliament. The Hungarian State Secretary emphasised that he had voiced support for plans to sign a free trade agreement between the European Union, the United States and Canada. The agreement could boost Hungary-Canada trade by up to 20-30%, he said.

The talks also touched upon Hungary’s plan to re-open its consulate general in Toronto, which is supported by Canada and sought by the country’s Hungarian community, Németh said. The consulate general could play a major role in facilitating applications for Hungarian citizenship and in enhancing the identity of the Hungarian community in Canada. A lot of Canadian Hungarians live in the Toronto metropolitan area, which is also an economic hub, and is therefore important form the viewpoint of further developing  bilateral trade relations.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)