Minister of Human Capacities Miklós Kásler held talks on the tightening of Hungarian-Croatian cultural relations with his Croatian counterpart Nina Obuljen Koržinek in Zagreb on Monday, following which the parties singed an agreement on Hungarian-Croatian cultural cooperation.
At their joint press conference, Mr. Kásler told reporters that he and the Croatian Minister of Culture had determined that bilateral cultural relations have developed extremely dynamically in recent years within the fields of the performing arts, heritage protection, international education issues and other cultural respects.
As he explained, compared to the existing one, the newly signed agreement has expanded the fields of cooperation, an excellent apropos of which it that from the first of January Croatia will be taking over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, within the framework of which several joint events will be held. He particularly highlighted a totally new field of cooperation, the joint archaeological strategy, within which he mentioned as an example the introduction and joint application of the latest techniques and technologies within the field of archaeogenetics.
Nina Obuljen Koržinek expressed her thanks for the excellent cooperation within the field of protecting and facilitating the cultural programs of national minorities in both Croatia and Hungary, highlighting the Croatian National Theatre in Pécs with relation to Hungary’s Croatian minority.
The Croatian Culture Minister mentioned two major exhibitions that will be held in Budapest during Croatia’s EU Presidency: the Kraljević exhibition will be on show in March in the Castle Garden Bazaar in Budapest, while an exhibition on Croatian-Hungarian artistic heritage from the 12th to the 20th century will be on display in the Hungarian National Museum from April.
During his official visit, Miklós Kásler also met with Croatia’s Minister of Public Administration Ivan Malenica, with whom he discussed the state of public administration in Croatia.