Hungary’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vilmos Szabo held talks with Ukrainian officials on the education of ethnic Hungarians and other issues in Uzhgorod, the seat of Subcarpathia, an Ukrainian region inhabited by many Hungarians, on Friday.
Meeting Governor Oleh Havasi, Szabo confirmed that Hungary considered ties with Ukraine strategically important, and had an interest in Ukraine being a politically and economically strong and stable country.
He praised achievements in education that is crucial for the Hungarian minority to preserve its identity over the past two decades, but expressed concern over recent trends of discrimination in the fields of university entrance exams, supply of Hungarian text-books and the state funding of churches.
Hungary agrees that Hungarians in Subcarpathia should learn the Ukrainian language but considers it even more important that they should be allowed to learn their mother tongue without any central limitation, he said.
The issue will feature on the agenda of talks Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Balazs will hold during his official visit to Kiev on December 22 and 23.
