New Hungarian Foreign Minister takes office

With the formation of the new Orbán government, the new foreign minister, Tibor Navracsics took over his new portfolio from the outgoing minister, János Martonyi. The name of the ministry also changes: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Tibor Navracsics and János Martonyi made a joint 'door-step' press appearance on the occasion of the handover-takeover of the Ministry.

Previously, at his hearing before Hungarian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Tibor Navracsics stressed that the last 25 years of Hungarian foreign policy was a success story; diplomacy represented well the interests of the country regardless of what government was in power.

But as the world changes, he said, external economic and cultural diplomatic assignments would become increasingly important in addition to classic diplomacy. He explained that more concentrated efforts would be made in the future regarding external economy with one ministry institutionally focusing on the tasks which might help productivity and in addition cultural diplomacy would be a huge chance for becoming an effective tool in international relations. As he added, the government would intend to give further support to this area.