Deputy State Secretary for Social Inclusion at the Ministry of Human Resources Péter Garai attended the initial meeting of the project "Capacity-building in municipalities through Norwegian-Hungarian cooperation", which was awarded aid from the Norway Grants.

Representatives of the 10 participating organisations, including Jenő Schmidt, President of the National Federation of Local Governments (TÖOSZ), Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway Tove Skarstein and Deputy State Secretary Péter Garai signed the partnership agreement at the ceremonial opening held in Mátraháza, northern Hungary. The Deputy State Secretary stressed the importance of relations between local organisations and the Government and their cooperation which will be greatly assisted by the agreement now concluded.

The programme offers development opportunities within the field of access to public services, and facilitates the extension of equal opportunities programmes and the improvement of the effectiveness of relations between communities and local governments.

(State Secretariat for Social Inclusion)