The delegation of the Danish Foreign Policy Society (DFPS) visited the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (IFAT) on 16 April 2018 to get informed on Hungarian foreign and domestic affairs. On the four-party event, beside DFPS and IFAT, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), and the College for Advanced Studies of Diplomacy in Practice (CASDP) were represented.
In his opening speech Kristóf Altusz, Deputy State Secretary for European and American Affairs in MFAT, summarized the four key priorities of Hungarian foreign policy. He outlined the economic-driven focus of Hungarian diplomacy and the importance of foreign direct investment, the political aspects of the Hungarian foreign policy, the importance of regional stability, the Hungarian support for EU enlargement, as well as the key achievements of the V4 cooperation and its priorities. The opening remarks were followed by a short presentation from Márton Schőberl, Director of IFAT, in which he presented the main activities and priorities of the institution. Charlotte Flindt Pedersen, Director of the Danish Foreign Policy Society, talked about the Danish institution, its structure and professional focus. Finally, Virág Mai-Lan Le, Chairperson of the College for Advanced Studies of Diplomacy in Practice described briefly the work of the College and its priorities.
The presentations were followed by the Q&A round. Members of the Danish delegation asked the participants on the Hungarian position on several foreign policy issues: the Syrian military intervention, the prospects of the Turkish EU accession, relations with Russia in bilateral and EU-Russian levels, EU-Hungarian relations and Hungarian neighborhood policies. Questions focusing on domestic politics also came up, including the support for Hungarian minorities abroad, military expenditures, corruption and the population decline.