President of Hungary Novak Katalin paid an official visit to Romania on September 7 - the first of a Hungarian President in over a decade.

"For 12 years, no president of Hungary has visited Romania. I can say that I opened a new chapter in our collaboration with my official visit to Bucharest, at the invitation of President [Iohannis]", Katalin Novak stated, according to Digi24.

As regards the agenda, Romania's President Klaus Iohannis used the opportunity to touch upon delicate topics such as the investments carried out by Hungary among communities with a majority of Hungarian ethnics in Transylvania and highlighted Romania's solidarity with Ukraine [in contrast to Hungary's implied more nuanced position].

President Novak openly admitted that the authorities in the two countries can not always share the same opinion - but they should always keep communicating in the view of understanding each other.

"We won't agree on everything - as we haven't agreed on everything in the past - but the most important thing is that we can discuss and listen to each other and maybe then we can understand the other's point of view, even if the interests are not they are identical and the agreement is not identical in absolutely all areas", stressed Novak.

The topic of the Hungarian investments in Transylvania prompted heated debates in Romania recently, between those suspecting hidden interests of Hungary on the one side and those criticising the lack of similar actions from the Romanian authorities on the other. In fact, Romania, maybe on a smaller scale, does the same for Romanian ethnics abroad.

"It is fundamental that the projects of interest are carried out in Romania only following an agreement of Romania, that they are not discriminatory on the basis of ethnicity and that they comply with Romanian, European and international law", stressed President Iohannis.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Presidency.ro)