It is my great honour to welcome visitors to the homepage of the Hungarian Embassy in Pretoria.
As the new Ambassador of Hungary, I commenced my mission in the Republic of South Africa on the 4th of January 2012. Furthermore, I represent my country in seven other states of the region: Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The primary mission of our Embassy is to further develop the political, economic, cultural, educational and scientific relations, as well as promote tourism and people-to-people contacts between Hungary and South Africa, building upon our cordial bonds based on common democratic values and mutual inclination for cooperation. It is our commitment to assist the Hungarian and the South African people to become more acquainted with each other’s history, rich cultural heritage, traditions, customs and ways of living as well as the abundant natural beauties, in order to bring them closer to each other, in spite of the huge geographical distance.
It is also our firm intention to explore the means and ways of mutually advantageous cooperation with all the accredited states and to strengthen our ties wherever it is possible.
As a country with excellent aptitudes and highly developed economy, the rapidly growing, global player South Africa is one of the most important overseas trading partners and export markets for Hungary. Our Embassy is actively working on further enhancing our trade volume and encouraging investments, as well as on introducing more Hungarian quality products to the South African consumers. Since the summer of 2011, a newly appointed trade counsellor is working at our mission to facilitate and promote business contacts and to launch Hungarian products and specialities to the South African market. Our Embassy is ready to assist the Hungarian and South African business community by providing information and finding partners, as well as in organising trade promotional events.
The Hungarian Embassy in Pretoria offers effective, up to date, client-friendly consular service to Hungarian visitors coming here and to the large Hungarian community in South Africa. In case of emergency or personal security issues, every Hungarian citizen can rely on the assistance of our mission.
The Embassy actively promotes tourism and administers matters related to visits or longer term stays of South African citizens in Hungary.
It is our pleasant and rewarding duty to assist our compatriots living in South Africa in preserving their Hungarian identity, our language and culture. We consider it our noble mission to reach out to the second and third generation young people of Hungarian descent to discover their roots and to strengthen their affection for Hungary. We would like to encourage every Hungarian in South Africa to get in touch with our Embassy and to provide contact details, which would enable us to circulate useful information more effectively and to introduce our activities and programmes to our compatriots.
We also encourage Hungarians wishing to visit here as tourists or on business, to feel free to contact the Embassy if you need information on South Africa or the region, as well as if you require assistance for official or personal businesses.
We would appreciate it if you shared with us your opinion, and our Embassy warmly welcomes any suggestion to make our homepage more reader-friendly and informative.
On behalf of my colleagues as well, I wish to every reader of our homepage the best of health, personal success and happiness.
Béla LÁSZLÓAmbassador