Hungary's János Pásztor of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been appointed as the first-ever UN Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change. The announcement has been made by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.

Fostering relations between countries and within the family - this is the main theme of the article written for the Witty Leaks section of a recent issue of Diplomacy & Trade by the Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Iraq in Budapest, Dr. Diary Ahmed Majid.

This year, Canada and Hungary has recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. On this occasion, Diplomacy & Trade featured a special focus with an interview in it with the Canadian Ambassador to Hungary, Lisa Helfand.

The Palace of Arts in Budapest was the venue of the reception given by Hungarian President János Áder to ambassadors accredited to Hungary. In his speech to the diplomats, the President emphasized the importance peace and that of environment protection.

At a meeting in Bratislava, the Prime Ministers of the Visegrád Group highlighted the importance of Swiss investments in Europe, and with reference to the order of magnitude of those investments, voiced their request that the V4 should benefit more from them.

Budapest Week Publishing, the publisher of Diplomacy & Trade, held its Christmas Reception for its partners at the InterContinental Budapest Hotel. Guests included members of the diplomatic community, of the gastronomy industry and businessmen.

The United States Senate has confirmed Colleen Bell as the next American ambassador to Hungary. Her confirmation had been delayed after Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain, raised objections over her qualifications to represent the U.S. in Hungary.

A competition has been held to select the list of wines that will be served at Hungarian representations abroad and to international delegations at foreign ministry events in 2015. The Carton Hungaricum wine selection was announced at a gala evening.

Lech Wa³êsa, who is regarded by many people in and outside of Poland as the face of the struggle for freedom, was invited to Hungary by the Antall József Foundation to receive the V4 Award for his lifelong efforts in support of democracy.

“Most of the years I have spent abroad are connected to Hungary,” the Slovenian Ambassador in Budapest, H. E. Ksenija ©krilec tells Diplomacy & Trade in a comprehensive interview as part of the newspaper's special focus on Slovenian-Hungarian relations.

The United States has banned several Hungarians suspected of corruption, including people connected to the government, from entering its territory. Analysts believe the U.S. is angered by Hungarians seeking financial gains at US companies through corruption.

On the occasion that Italy is at the helm of the European Union as the current holder of the rotating presidency, the Italian ambassador to Hungary, Maria Assunta Accili Sabbatini has given an interview published in a recent issue of Diplomacy & Trade.

Géza Jeszenszky has resigned as the Hungarian ambassador to Norway. The website hvg.hu suspects Jeszenszky quit as he had enough of explaining the Hungarian government’s hostile attitude towards NGOs distributing Norway Grant funds.

The Diplomacy & Trade Club held the presentation of Diplomacy & Trade’s recent country focus on The Netherlands. The speaker of the evening was the head of Transparency International Hungary, József Péter Martin talking about corruption in Hungary.