The aim of the forum is to establish a long-term - spanning election cycles - cooperation between the two countries in the areas of culture, the sciences, economy and the civil sphere. The meeting of establishment of the forum, at which important figures in the area of culture and the sciences in Hungary and Russia participated, was supported financially by the Ministry of Education and Culture, but the aim is to make the forum operate within the framework of an independent civil organisation, such as a Hungarian-Russian association. Guests at the meeting included Russian ambassador to Hungary Aleksandr Tolkach and Hungary's ambassador to Russia György Gilyán.
The Russians originally proposed the forum be called the Sárospatak Dialogue, a nod to the turn Hungarian-Russian relations took after Russia's return, in 2006, of historic manuscripts to the Reformed College of Sárospatak in northeast Hungary after a sixty-year absence. But it was decided the name should be similar to those of other forums Russia has with its partners, such as the Russian-German Forum and the Russian-French Forum.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: MTI
