Tadić opened Cultural Center in Budapest

(Boris Tadić and Laszlo Solyom)

On the first day of his official visit to Hungary, the President of Serbia, Boris Tadić, had the meeting yesterday (October 12, 2009) with his Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Solyom. They agreed that Serbia's admission to European Union was the precondition for stable economic development of the region and permanent resolving of the issues of national minorities. President Tadić also opened a new Serbian Cultural Center in Budapest.

- We are proud of our culture and language, and we want to show these values to the world - said Tadić and added that the policy of Belgrade should ensure the best possible promotion and protection of the identity of Serbian people.

Tadić said that Belgrade was obliged to protect the identity of each ethnic community in Serbia, and that it was made possible by introduction of laws that ensured maximum protection of rights of every minority.

- We see the idea of European Union as a large peace project, maybe the largest in the history of the world, which has developed into an economic project - Tadić pointed out.

According to Tadić, all these ideas are based on protection of identities of EU members, and not on relativization of these identities.

He estimated that national minorities of Serbs in Romania, Hungary and Slovenia were especially important because Serbian people in those countries "already represent our identity in EU".

Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the Cultural Center functioned in variety of fields.

- What is important is that it also serves as archives because it is significant that the documents about Serbs in Hungary be preserved - said Solyom.

He said that national minorities should participate in public political life and that Serbian community should be present in Hungarian Parliament.