Foreign Minister Peter Balázs received the new U.S. Ambassador to Hungary

On January 13, 2010 Foreign Minister Péter Balázs welcomed Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, the new ambassador of the United States to Hungary for an introductory meeting.

At the meeting, Foreign Minister Balázs underscored the importance of Hungarian-American relations and praised the steady development of the multifaceted relations between the United States and Hungary. The two sides reviewed the current topics and the specific questions of bilateral relations with special regard to extending our bilateral agreements and business cooperation in order to boost US investment in Hungary. Among the matters that the two sides consulted on, was our security cooperation within NATO, the prospects of the new Strategic Concept as well as the issue of energy security.

The Ambassador emphasized that President Obama highly appreciates Hungary’s exemplary assistance of taking a Guantanamo detainee. In addition, both President Obama and Vice-President Biden value the new Hungarian military commitments in Afghanistan announced during Prime Minister Bajnai’s visit in Washington, D.C. The Ambassador reiterated that the US administration recognizes that the Hungarian government’s measures to reinvigorate the economy have been successful, highlighting that building on her business background she will consider the strengthening of US-Hungarian business relations as a top priority of her ambassadorship.

(January 13, 2010)