Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Lendva , the recognition was presented by Mayor János Magyar in the Slovenian city of Muravidék.
The minister thanked the city of Lendva and its citizens for the award. "To win the title of honorary citizen of a city and thus the recognition of a community is a great honor, especially considering that I am the second foreign minister of Hungary after János Martonyi to receive this honor," said Péter Szijjártó.
Before moving on to the award, he interpreted the good wishes of all citizens of Hungary from the fact that Slovenia won its independence thirty years ago. He emphasized: Central Europeans have a special history. "Until recently, we had to fight for our freedom. That's why we here in Central Europe can accurately assess the importance of freedom," he underlined. He indicated: we are now hopefully over a particularly difficult period. This very difficult period has made it clearer than ever before how interdependent the nations live here, he emphasized. This difficult situation confirmed the correctness of two important goals of Hungarian foreign policy, he continued.
First of all, you have to be on good terms with your neighbors, and secondly, you have to continuously strengthen the Hungarian communities across the border, he added. In this Central Europe with a particularly difficult past, a political situation has arisen today in which these two goals are not in conflict with each other. Moreover, these two goals are in harmony with each other, he stated.
He believed that it is a special gift from God for all of us that we can experience this period. He pointed out that this is the case especially with regard to the cooperation between Hungary and Slovenia. The cooperation between the two countries is based on mutual respect and sincere friendship, he underlined. In the construction of this special relationship, the Hungarian national community in Muravidék proved to be a real resource, he said, adding: "We know exactly that the better it is for the neighbors, the better it is for us."
According to his words, this is why Lendva and its surroundings can still count on the attention of the Hungarian people and the support of the Hungarian government. They are carrying out the ongoing developments, and they are waiting for more and more development ideas from the mayor and the people of Lendva. He believed that such an honorary citizen title means recognition and honor on the one hand, and expectations on the other.
I would like to assure you that I intend to meet this expectation in the future as well, and I will support you with all my heart, he said at the end. Mayor János Magyar thanked Péter Szijjártó for his initiative and willingness to help, and his exemplary human behavior. As he said, as an honorary citizen of the village of Lendva, from now on he will always be welcomed with an open heart and sincere love.
The minister also posted a video of the event on his social media page.
