Cultural cooperation between Estonia and Hungary: kinship and cooperation in supporting other Finno-Ugric people are of importance

NordenBladet — Today, on the 28th of May, the Estonian ambassador in Hungary, Kristi Karelsohn and the state secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, Zoltan Lörinczi (photos attached), signed an agreement on a programme of cultural cooperation between the two countries, lasting from 2020 until 2022. This is already the ninth programme signed, based on cultural cooperation between the two states.

„Kinship plays an important role in the relationship between Estonia and Hungary. This is very important in communication with each other, as well as in supporting the other Finno-Ugric people, in the preservation and strengthening of their identity. Our cooperation therefore has a broader meaning. We are together with Hungary and Finland, in the Finno-Ugric world, important spokesmen and our support for groups of smaller people is very important“, said the Head of the Foreign Relations Department of the Ministry of Culture, Kadri Jauram.

An important role, in the cultural cooperation amongst Estonia and Hungary themselves, is played by the Estonian Institute in Budapest and the Hungarian Institute in Tallinn. There is for example annually, an Estonian cultural week in Hungary, the programme of which includes concerts, theatre performances, exhibitions, literary events, as well as also a film programme. The Finno-Ugrian Days, held in October, in Estonia, have performers of Finno-Ugric people, among them Hungarian musicians, dance troupes, as well as craftsmen. A sign of broader cultural cooperation is imminent, as in 2021 the World Congress of Finno-Ugric People, organised by the NPO Fenno-Ugria Asutus, takes place in Tartu.

The cultural cooperation between Estonia and Hungary is based on the intergovernmental agreement, on cooperation in the fields of culture and education, signed on the 28th of April 1994, in Tallinn. The agreement is used as a basis for multi-year cooperation programmes of each of the two states, which establish the cooperation targets for the new period. It is possible to learn about all the foreign contracts and cooperation programmes on the Ministry of Culture website.

Source: Ministry of Culture – Republic of Estonia