Dear Visitor,

We are pleased to welcome you to the Mission’s home page!

The end of each year and the beginning of a new one always provides the opportunity and the occasion to look back at what we have achieved so far, sum up the results and define new objectives.

We are pleased to inform our Readers that starting from the last quarter of 2010 we managed to give new impetus to the Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, enhanced by a successful visit of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Kiev, visit of the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Volodymyr Litvin to Budapest, as well as the visits of President Pál Schmitt to Ukraine. President of the Republic of Hungary Pál Schmitt returned on an official visit to Ukraine on April 19^th, 2011, to take part in the donor conference devoted to the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, in the framework of which the Republic of Hungary has offered two million Euros for the new "sarcophagus" construction project. We also successfully revived the activities of the bilateral joint committees and begun negotiations on several bilateral agreements. Apart form reflection on the resent results of our cooperation during his visit to Kiev on December 12^th, 2011, Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi managed to designate the new cooperation tasks with his Ukrainian partners.

As President of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2011 Hungary made a number of initiatives and steps that directly affected Ukraine. Such, for example, was the adoption of the energy security package, the Roma Strategy, the Danube Strategy. The Government of Hungary will continue to actively support Ukraine's European integration and visa liberalization efforts, and encourages participation in the realization of Eastern Partnership programs.

Our professional, cultural and economic relations have also been invigorated. A significant result is that our bilateral trade turnover in 2011 exceeded 3.4 billion dollars. The nearly one thousand Hungarian-Ukrainian joint ventures, which are registered in Ukraine indicate the strengthening of our economic ties. With the nearly 770 million dollars capital investment Hungary became the 10^th largest investor in Ukraine among the EU Member States.

The 130 thousand visas issued last year have greatly contributed to the development of our touristic relations. We have initiated a number of professional consultation programs to simplify border traffic, including those between the two countries' customs services. Next to managing high-level political contacts the Embassy has focused on the development and implementation of cross-border cooperation projects involving EU funds as well.

In the spirit of the International Year of Franz Liszt and Hungary’s presiding of the EU Council in 2011 we have strengthened our cultural presence in Ukraine with numerous events. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Hungary and Ukraine the world-famous Bartók String Quartet gave a concert on December 3^rd, 2011 at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. With view to the availability of resources, we plan to further expand of our cultural programs in 2012.

Together with my colleagues we are striving to maintain and further strengthen the ties between Hungary and Ukraine, as good neighbors and particularly important partners for each other.

I hope that the Readers of our website will find useful and interesting information, and will get a clear view of how the relations between Hungary and Ukraine are developing.

Mihály Bayer
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary