Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič paid an official visit to Hungary on 19 - 20 February, the first one in the past nine years. The Slovak head of state held talks with Hungarian President János Áder. “It was a very important meeting,” he said afterwards. He added that now, when both countries were searching for answers to serious questions arising from the economic crisis, “this situation requires that our cooperation be even more intensive, responsible and reliable. Because no country can alone exit this crisis easily, cooperation is necessary.”

The two presidents also discussed issues over which Slovakia and Hungary cannot find a consensus - the language act, dual citizenship, school system and education. President Ivan Gašparovič appreciated that solutions to these issues could be based on the basic treaty concluded between Slovakia and Hungary in 1995, as well as on the results of the work of twelve expert committees involved in the search for solutions. Both presidents acknowledged that relations between Slovakia and Hungary had recently begun to intensify.

As regards the respect for basic rights of national minorities living in both countries, the two top officials definitely agreed that minority members deserved consistent protection. “Even though our approaches to some issues under this agenda are based on different or diverging legal concepts, we think minorities could enrich the future of both Slovakia and Hungary,” Ivan Gašparovič noted. The Slovak President also informed they had acknowledged the great importance of the V4 Group which, in Central Europe in particular, plays and with mutual understanding will continue to play an extremely important role.

After the meeting, Hungarian President János Áder said they had agreed that the existing outstanding and disputable issues might only be resolved in line with the principle of mutual respect and solidarity. “We discussed dual citizenship, educational issues, as well as the use of minority languages. I believe the discussion was useful because we have gotten to understand our positions better,” the Hungarian President added.

On the first day of his official visit, the Slovak President also held talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest and attended a reception marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic contacts between Slovakia and Hungary, hosted by Slovak Ambassador to Hungary Peter Weiss. At a wreath laying ceremony at the Lajos Kossuth Square, Ivan Gašparovič paid tribute to the memory of former Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy. On the second day of the visit, President Gašparovič met with Slovak expatriates in the Slovak Institute and visited the town of Gödöllö.