Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog and United States Ambassador Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis paid a visit to Nyiregyhaza on Tuesday to learn about social inclusion programmes for local Roma.

They visited a primary school that provides integrated education to Roma and non-Roma pupils as well as to local homes which have been refurbished or are awaiting an upgrade under a housing rehabilitation programme in the area.

"What has been carried out in Nyiregyhaza under the 410-million-forint (EUR 1.4m) programme is exemplary," Minister Balog told a press conference held with the ambassador.

He said that under the programme 18 Roma families had moved into homes many of them had refurbished themselves as part of a scheme whereby the companies which carried out the work offered them employment.

Minister Balog also mentioned an EU-financed project for training one thousand Roma women to work in social and child care as well as two other EU-funded programmes for training unemployed Roma.

Ambassador Kounalakis welcomed the Government's efforts to improve the situation of disadvantaged families through innovative projects. The socially challenged and their social integration is a major challenge not only in Hungary but also in the United States, she said.

She presented the embassy's Active Citizenship Award to a local representative of the Human-Net Foundation specialising in labour training.

(MTI, Ministry of Human Resources)