Friendship between Hungary and Croatia can best be strengthened by deepening scientific and cultural ties, which is the purpose of the new Hungarian Institute opening in Zagreb, Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics said on Friday.

He told the opening ceremony that, by opening this institute, the Hungarian state is servicing an old debt, since all other neighbouring countries already have such Hungarian cultural centres. The institute will operate in a building at the heart of the Croatian capital, where the European Union representation is also housed. In a speech delivered in both Croatian and Hungarian, Mr Navracsics said: "in order to get to know one another's cultures, and for a real friendship to form between the people, this kind of institute is indispensable." He noted that the Hungarian and Croatian culture had been bound together by many centuries of close relations and interaction, but in the 19th and 20th centuries, due to a divergence, "our acquaintances with each other faded".

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Ever since the democratic elections and our countries' independence over the past twenty years "we can truly call relations between our two countries friendly, and culture can also facilitate this," he sated.

The main purpose of the Zagreb Hungarian Institute is to inform people about Hungarian cultural and scientific achievements. Hungarian Croats are also welcome at the institute, he added.

The event was also attended by Croatian Justice Minister Orsat Miljenic, Zagreb Deputy Mayor Vesne Kusin, and Pál Hatos, director of the Balassi Institute, governing Hungarian institutes all around the world, and Dénes Sokcsevits, the head of the new institute.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)