The foreign ministers of Hungary and Slovakia agreed at a meeting on Tuesday that a joint action plan for amending ties between their countries had been successfully implemented.

Miroslav Lajcak of Slovakia and Peter Balazs of Hungary met in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, to assess the results of the action plan adopted by their prime ministers at a September 10 meeting in response to strains in bilateral relations.

The 11-point action plan, among other goals, included pledges to work out a protocol to prevent diplomatic tension such as the one resulting from Slovakia's prevention of a visit by Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom on August 21. It also asserted mutual respect of the rights of national minorities, combatting extremism and boosting cross-border cooperation.

Lajcak and Balazs told the press after the meeting that they had referred to a mixed committee the problems in connection with Slovakia's new state language law, which Hungary finds discriminates against minorities, including Hungarians living in Slovakia.