DAVAO CITY—The Embassy of Hungary in the Philippines will open its doors on Tuesday after two decades of hiatus, and despite the Philippines’s prickly relations with the European Union over human rights.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also announced the visit here on Monday of Péter Szijjártó, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary to meet President Duterte, as well as to sign important trade agreements and other economic cooperation pacts with individual members of Duterte’s economic team.
The DFA said the reopening of the Hungarian embassy came 21 years after the country closed its embassy in 1995.
The DFA said the visit of Szijjártó “highlights the growing importance of the Philippines and its potential for Hungary as a reliable partner in trade and investment, research and education, cultural and people-to-people exchanges.”
“Minister Szijjártó will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts, Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique A. Manalo and Secretary of Trade and Industry Ramon M. Lopez,” the DFA said.
The minister will sign several cooperation agreements, including an agreement on economic cooperation establishing the Philippines-Hungary Joint Economic Commission, as well as an agreement of cooperation between the diplomatic institutes of the two countries.
Szijjártó is scheduled to meet Duterte in the Malacañang extension office here on Monday on a courtesy call “to discuss current issues of mutual concern and future avenues of cooperation.”
On the day of the opening of the embassy on Tuesday, the business sector of both countries will hold the Hungary-Philippines Business Forum, which the DFA said was organized by the Hungarian National Trading House and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The forum will be attended by a Hungarian business delegation of 15 companies and their local partners as well as their potential partners “in order to kickstart the improvement of trade and investment relations expected from the reopening of the embassy.”
Szijjártó will also hold a public lecture at the De La Salle University on Tuesday afternoon and inaugurate a photo exhibition on the famous sights of the 1,128-kilometer blue trekking trail of Hungary taken by the late Hungarian photographer Barna Burger.
The Embassy of Hungary in the Philippines will be headed by Ambassador József Bencze, who previously served as ambassador of Hungary to Skopje, Macedonia, from 2011 to 2016, and also previously as Hungary’s National Chief of Police from 2007 to 2010.
Bencze presented his credentials to President Duterte last December 6.
The DFA said the diplomatic section of the embassy will become fully operational on Tuesday, although the consular section—responsible for activities, such as issuance of visas and authentication of documents—will become operational only in April.
The DFA said Hungary is a Central European country founded in the year 1000, “defined by its long history, distinct language and unique culture of art, music and innovation”. It established its embassy in 1991 to 1995 in the Philippines.
After it closed in 1995, “the Embassy of Hungary in Jakarta, Indonesia was accredited to the Philippines, where the Honorary Consul-General of Hungary, Alfonso S. Yuchengco III looked after the interests of Hungary and its citizens.”