site.btaPresident Radev Addresses Bulgarian Community in Budapest

June 14 (BTA Special Correspondent Lora Metanova) -
Addressing representatives of the Bulgarian community here on
Thursday, President Rumen Radev said: "In Hungary the opinion
about Bulgarians is very high, and this is your contribution."
The meeting took place at the Bulgarian Embassy in Hungary.
  
Radev arrived on a two-day visit to Hungary on Thursday.

In Radev's words, the Bulgarian community in Hungary is the
oldest in Europe, one of the biggest and most united which for
over 100 years has been building a "small Bulgaria" in Hungary
with lots of love and effort.
 
He thanked the Bulgarian Self-Government, the Association of
Ethnic Bulgarians in Hungary, and the people involved with the
Bulgarian school and the St. St. Cyril and Methodius Church.

Radev also thanked Hungary's Government and President because,
in his words, they play an important role in supporting the
preservation of local Bulgarians' language, national identity
and historical memory.

Radev praised the Bulgarian community's initiative to make
October 19 Day of Bulgarian-Hungarian Friendship, an initiative
approved without reservation by the authorities both in Hungary
and Bulgaria.

Participating in the meeting with President Radev in Budapest
was Szimeon Varga, observer for the Bulgarian community in the
Hungarian Parliament . "We, Bulgarians in Hungary, are known as
united, hard working and always smiling," he said. In his words,
 in whichever of the two countries he finds himself in, he feels
 at home.

RY/DS



/СН/