Hungary and Armenia have agreed on re-establishing diplomatic relations, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, said on Facebook on Thursday. The minister held talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan on the sidelines of a Council of Ministers session of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Łódź, Poland. Szijjártó noted that diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off over ten years ago.
“After several rounds of preparatory talks and mutual gestures, I have agreed with my Armenian colleague on restoring diplomatic relations. This is fitting in the case of two Christian countries,” he wrote.
The minister called Hungary’s ethnic Armenian community an important link between the two countries, adding that the government had considerably increased support for that community. Restoring diplomatic relations will open up possibilities for commercial, cultural, educational and touristic cooperation, Szijjártó said.