By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA
MANILA — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. is on a three-day official visit to Hungary to strengthen Manila’s ties with Budapest.
Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato said Locsin is set to meet with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, and discuss bilateral relations, as well as regional and global developments.
“Secretary Locsin’s visit will provide an opportunity for him to share with Hungarian policy makers, business leaders, and members of the academe developments that have been taking place in the Philippines,” Cato said in a text message Wednesday night.
Locsin on Wednesday called on Hungarian National Assembly Speaker Laszlo Kover.
According to the Philippine Embassy in Budapest, he will give a lecture on Philippine foreign policy at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade and visit the headquarters of the Hungarian Water Technology Corp.
After his trip to Hungary, Locsin will proceed to Germany to participate in the Munich Security Conference, meet with the Filipino community, and inaugurate the newly-built Philippine Embassy in Berlin.
Hungary reopened its Embassy in Manila in 2017 after a two-decade hiatus starting in 1995. The European country has since expressed intent to renew cooperation with the country, particularly in the areas of trade and investment, tourism, education, and agriculture.
During Szijjarto’s visit to Manila in 2017, a number of agreements were signed on economic cooperation, cultural cooperation, as well as the memorandum of understanding between the DFA-Foreign Service Institute and its Hungarian counterpart, the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade
