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Speaking before the talk, Szőcs recalled that cultural cooperation between Hungarians and the French goes back centuries to the Anjou dynasty.
He added that the revolutionary 19th century poet Petőfi?s admiration of French culture was well known, and the poet Endre Ady together with those who published the journal Nyugat looked to France with much admiration.
?Even if we only look at the past century, there were many common symbolic figures in the two cultures, such as the poet Jacques Prévert, who wrote more than 80 poems that inspired songs by Joseph Kozma (József Kozma), as well as the Liszt award-winning pianist György Cziffra, the painter Simon Hantai and the Kossuth award-winning painter Judit Reigl. Both cultures can be proud of them,? Szőcs said.
Szőcs said that, based on such a long-standing tradition, it was not difficult to further cement cultural ties with the French.
Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gergely Prőhle, who will also attend the roundtable talk, said fostering cultural diplomacy has helped manage conflicts in the past. He added that the role of smaller countries as mediators would increase in this respect.
Source: Hungarian Press Agency (MTI)
