25 years since the signing of the Treaty of Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighbourliness between Romania and the Republic of Hungary

  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) celebrates, on Thursday, 25 years since the signing of the Treaty of Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighbourliness between Romania and the Republic of Hungary (Timisoara, 16 September 1996), context in which Minister Bogdan Aurescu is talking about consolidating a "constructive, pragmatic and European partnership".The basic political treaty between Romania and Hungary represents one of the political-legislative pillars of the bilateral relationship in the last two and a half decades, being a solid landmark of the development of the Romanian-Hungarian cooperation, the MAE reminds."At present, the joint membership of the EU and NATO contributes to a better coordination of our states, in order to promote the common interests in the two structures. I express my confidence that today, 25 years after its signing, the foundations of the bilateral relationship, as they are defined by the basic political treaty - trust, cooperation and mutual respect - will guide us to strengthen a constructive, pragmatic partnership, in the European spirit, meant to generate definite benefits for all our citizens," the Minister of Foreign Affairs declared on this occasion, according to a press release sent on Thursday.Romania and Hungary, as strategic partners, neighboring states and EU and NATO member countries, share a number of common interests, and in this context the full capitalization of the Basic Political Treaty and the instruments created by it, as well as the bilateral strategic partnership must be a priority in the future.The Treaty of Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighbourliness between Romania and the Republic of Hungary also created the platform for cooperation between the two states in the field of protection of the rights of persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Hungary, and to the Hungarian minority in Romania, respectively. Thus, the Romanian-Hungarian specialty committee for cooperation on national minority issues, created on the basis of this treaty, remains the reference forum for discussing any issues concerning our related minorities, able to identify appropriate consensual approaches to ensure the preservation and assertion of ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural identity.The Romanian MAE expresses its hope that, "by using this priority framework of cooperation, the persons belonging to the Romanian minority in Hungary will be able to preserve and develop the defining elements of their ethnic, linguistic, cultural, spiritual identity so that they can be bequeathed to future generations of ethnic Romanians".The MAE "also voices its confidence that in the future, and even more so in a context marked by challenges, the relationship between Romania and Hungary will continue to develop politically, economically, at a societal level, in accordance with the political-legislative foundations represented by the Treaty on Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighbourliness between Romania and the Republic of Hungary and the Declaration on Romanian-Hungarian Cooperation and Strategic Partnership for 21st Century Europe, as well as on the basis of belonging to the same European and Euro-Atlantic community".To mark the quarter of a century since the signing of the Treaty of Understanding, Cooperation and Good Neighbourliness between Romania and the Republic of Hungary, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with Romfilatelia has produced a postage stamp issue that illustrates the importance that Romania attaches to this historical moment in the bilateral relationship.***Hungary is the first state with which Romania has created the mechanism of joint government meetings, a useful tool that has contributed to the deepening of sectoral cooperation.Hungary is one of Romania's traditional economic partners. In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, trade amounted to almost 9 billion euros. A particularly useful tool in stimulating economic cooperation is the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation Romania - Hungary.The last meeting of this Committee, which took place in Budapest on April 8-9, 2021, highlighted the significant potential for economic and sectoral cooperation between Romania and Hungary, as well as the interest of the two states to engage in joint projects, mutually advantageous in areas such as: infrastructure and transport, cross-border cooperation, tourism, energy, agriculture, environmental protection, health, etc.Such a project, meant to boost economic cooperation and trade between the two states, is represented by the bilateral Chamber of Commerce, which will be based in Budapest, and which will be an effective vector for promoting the interests of Romanian companies on the Hungarian market, and of Hungarian companies on the Romanian market, respectively.