The Ministry of Human Resources designated 150 million forints to the Hungarian Office of the Finno-Ugric World Congress to organise the three-day event, and appointed Deputy State Secretary for Cultural Affairs Judit Hammerstein as the main coordinator of the preparations.

Speaking at the opening of the 6th World Congress of Finno-Ugric People, President of Hungary János Áder said that linguistic kinship means that we all belong to the same language family and are not alone. We share a common past, present and future and we are responsible for each other. At the Congress, issues such as ethno-politics, law, linguistics, culture and demography will be on the agenda. 25 nations will represent themselves in Siófok at the three-day event.

The Hungarian President added that sharing a language is an opportunity to preserve national identity and further develop the nation’s own culture, as well as to better understand each other and ourselves. He also acknowledged the work of linguists, archaeologists and ethnographers who have dedicated their lives to enriching our knowledge of the language and homeland of the first Finno-Ugric tribes. He highlighted that these findings were a result of hundreds of years of constant research. "We must bow our heads to the achievements of the scientists of past generations" President Áder said.

The Estonian and Finnish Heads of State, Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Sauli Niinisto, as well as Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, were among the guests of the international event. The World Congress was established in 1992 by Hungary, Estonia, Finland, and Russia and meets in a different country every four years. In 2008, the event was held in the Russian city of Khanty-Mansiysk.

(Prime Minister’s Office)