The President of the Republic Katalin Novák called the cooperation in Visegrad an alliance of the heart and the mind at a joint press conference with the outgoing President of the Czech Republic Milos Zeman on Friday in Prague. At the beginning of the press conference, Katalin Novák presented the Grand Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit with a chain to the outgoing Czech head of state, expressing the appreciation of Hungarians.
He said that he brought the Hungarians' thanks to President Zeman, to whom he presented the award for Hungarian-Czech friendship, his 33-year political career and his efforts for Visegrad cooperation.
Katalin Novák emphasized: whoever attacks Visegrad cooperation is attacking the alliance of mind and heart, and she will also work under her presidency to be able to act against this as effectively as possible. As he said, he is a supporter of the Visegrád cooperation and believes in the ability of joint economic, cultural and historical values to be welded together.
Katalin Novák said that she and Milos Zeman discussed three topics, among which were the Russian-Ukrainian war, Czech-Hungarian bilateral cooperation and Visegrad relations.
He emphasized that both of them condemn Russian aggression, stand for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and are supporters of peace as soon as possible.
He recalled that more than one million refugees came to Hungary from the Russo-Ukrainian war, which directly affects 150,000 Hungarians in Transcarpathia.
He also spoke about the issue of the Transcarpathian Hungarian minority, which must be spoken about despite the war, since the rights of the Hungarian people living in Ukraine, including those related to the use of the language, were significantly restricted.
Speaking about Czech-Hungarian relations, Katalin Novák stated that they are striving to further strengthen relations in the economic, cultural and touristic fields.
Regarding the Visegrad cooperation, he explained that he believes that the common economic, cultural and historical values are strong and weld the V4 countries together. As he said, it is important to listen to the other's opinion and understand it, but he believes that all this only makes cooperation stronger.
In response to a journalist's question, he called the NATO expansion a key factor, in which, according to his position, the inclusion of Sweden and Finland is justified in the current situation.
On Friday, Katalin Novák, who was on an official visit, had an informal meeting with the elected President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, in the Hrzánsky Palace in Prague.
Source: MTI
Photo: Noémi Bruzák/MTI/MTVA
