09:00,

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s official visit to Hungary on February 5-7 was highly important for the local Armenian community, Hungarian lawmaker, national minority advocate at the Hungarian parliament Nikogosz Akopjan told Armenpress.

Nikogosz Akopjan represents the Armenian community in the Hungarian parliament.

“The President’s visit was highly important for the Armenian community of Hungary because there were no diplomatic relations for a long time. We hope that the visit will intensify the relations in culture, science and trade,” he said. “…finally the Armenians living in Hungary understood that the ice was broken after 12 years. We hope that the visit is the beginning of the development of our friendly ties.”

Asked on his opinion regarding the direction of developing the relations, Akopjan said, “It’s no secret that Hungary has very good relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. We must be able to delicately recover the lost balance. It is very important for us,” the lawmaker said, adding that the community must be actively engaged. 

Hungary was long ready to restore the ties with Armenia, according to Akopjan.

“Very often the Hungarian side would ask the Armenian community to act as a bridge for restoring the relations,” Akopjan said.

In an earlier interview with Armenpress, Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan also attached importance to Khachaturyan’s visit, noting that Hungary’s stance is highly important in terms of strengthening Armenia-EU ties since Budapest will assume the EU presidency in July 2024.