Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič received Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister János Martonyi in the Presidential Palace on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 .

At the beginning of the meeting, the Slovak President said that in the context of his recent official visit to Hungary, the current visit of the Hungarian Foreign Minister should, among other things, “aim at creating a “standard” atmosphere between our countries. We agree that Slovakia and Hungary are good neighbours, partners and allies.”
Ivan Gašparovič emphasised he was glad that the bilateral relations had considerably improved in the recent period. “I am sure this positive trend will also continue in the future, in keeping with our basic treaty of 1995,” he said at the meeting.

János Martonyi appreciated the contribution of Ivan Gašparovič’s recent visit to Hungary. “Your visit to Budapest was a prominent milestone in our contemporary relations,” he said with respect to the official visit by the Slovak head of state to Hungary this February.

During the talks with his Hungarian guest, President Gašparovič underlined that the “Hungarian card” had not been played in the last Slovak general election, nor after. In this context, he said he wished this would be true with respect to a campaign prior to Hungary’s next parliamentary election, as well. “So that leading political powers do not play a “Slovak card”, to make sure that our good cooperation still continues after the 2014 election, too,” the Slovak President added.

Commenting on Slovak-Hungarian foreign policy cooperation, the President said he firmly believed that “we need each other more and more, in the EU, NATO, as well as on the regional level. We should, therefore, be coming closer together rather than driving apart due needless disputes. Such an approach is also appreciated by our partners in European and trans-Atlantic structures that need not to see us a burden,” President Gašparovič elaborated further.

The two officials also discussed the issue of dual citizenship. President Gašparovič appreciated that experts had started discussing the dual citizenship issue in December 2012 and that yet another round of talks had recently been held in Budapest. “We consider this problem bilateral in its nature. It cannot be resolved by adapting Slovak legislation to a unilateral action taken by the Hungarian parliament. If the laws on citizenship are to change, than both of them - yours, as well as ours. And then, a bilateral agreement should be made,” the Slovak President explained his position.

Ivan Gašparovič and the Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister also discussed the support for and the functioning of the János Selye University in Komárno, and the operation of the Visegrad Group.
“I agree that a positive climate has set in between the Slovak Republic and Hungary,” János Martonyi said, adding that “we discussed controversial issues before, as well, but now our relations are considerably better. There is wider understanding and trust among us, as well as openness in sensitive issues.” According to János Martony, “we have much more joint interests in common than controversies.”