Prime Minister Viktor Orbán inaugurated a Hungarian Cultural Centre in Istanbul on Tuesday.

In his address, the Prime Minister said few countries in the world could truly say they benefited from globalisation but Turkey is one such example as its development is occurring on a global scale. "Turkey is not a state at the edge of Europe anymore but a country that will play an important role in the future," he stressed.

DownloadTurkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Omer Celik thanked Hungary for the maintenance of historic remains from the Ottoman period.

According to the Balassi Institute’s statement, the cultural centre will aim to reposition Hungarian culture in one of the most dynamically developing cultural centres in Europe and to strengthen Hungarian-Turkish relations that already have a long history.

Following the ceremony, several agreements were signed, including the document regarding the founding of the Hungarian-Turkish trading house in Istanbul and several inter-company treaties, such as between Eximbank and the Turkish Industrial Development Bank, and between the Hungarian Natural Gas Storage company and Turkey's Naturgaz, as well as a document on easing visa procedures.

In line with an earlier agreement between the Hungarian and Turkish prime ministers, the Turkish Cultural Centre in Budapest opened in September.

(Prime Minister’s Office)