Hungary to reopen embassy in Tallinn
Hungary is to open a new embassy in Tallinn on 23 September, according to an official press release from the Hungarian Government and reported in the Hungarian media. The new embassy will reestablish full diplomatic relations between the two countries in the Estonian capital after the previous embassy was closed in July 2014.
In something of a bilateral move, Estonia has also reopened its embassy in Budapest, following a decision made by the Estonian government in June this year. Estonia had closed its previous embassy in September 2014.
The new Hungarian embassy in Tallinn will be housed in the same building on Toompea at Piiskopi 2 that it had previously used; the building has apparently been left empty over the last four years.
Between August 2016 and present, Hungary had been represented by a diplomatic mission which was part of the Hungarian Institute in Tallinn, under the auspices of the embassy in Helsinki.
According an item in the archives of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: ''The Finno-Ugric dimension has an important place in the relations between Hungary and Estonia. Hungary, Finland and Estonia are consistently co-operating in supporting the endeavours of our kindred peoples to preserve and foster their identity.''
The Hungarian language forms the major 'Ugric' component of the Finno-Ugric languages, with Estonian, Finnish and various other Finnic languages being hypothesised as belonging to the same language family.
Additionally, Hungarian NATO forces have been stationed in Estonia.
Editor: Andrew Whyte
