April 2, 2008

 

Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Peter Harrach  Visits Washington to Meet the Hungarian American Community

 

 

Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament Péter Harrach, his wife, Mrs. Péter Harrach and Deputy Head of the Foreign Relations Office of the Hungarian Parliament Géza Raffay paid an official visit to the United States.

 

They met Hungarian Americans in New York on Saturday, March 29 in the Hungarian Consulate-General in New York, before arriving in Washington, DC.

 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Péter Harrach in front of the Capitol of the United States of America

 

 

On Tuesday, April 1, the parliamentary group and Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi visited Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, Ohio (a city with one of the largest Hungarian American communities), who is also the head of the Hungarian Caucus at Congress.

 

 

Congressman Dennis Kucinich promised Deputy Speaker Péter Harrach to support Hungary in joining the Visa Waiver Program

 

 

DS Harrach and Ambassador Somogyi asked Congressman Kucinich to support Hungary in becoming a full member of the American Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The Congressman promised to work hard on further promoting Hungarian American bilateral relations and to help Hungary as much he could.

 

 

Géza Raffay, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Deputy Speaker Péter Harrach, Elizabeth Kucinich (wife of Congressman Kucinich), Ambassador Ferenc Somogyi

 

 

In the evening, Ambassador Somogyi introduced DS Harrach to local Hungarian Americans at the Embassy of Hungary by sketching the political carreer of the former Minister of Social and Family Affairs.

 

 

Ambassador Somogyi introducing Deputy Speaker Péter Harrach to the Hungarian American community of Washington, DC

 

 

Péter Harrach discussed past and current Hungarian political and social developments, and answered several foreign and domstic policy questions of the audience, ranging from Iraq and Afghanistan, Kosovo, Hungarian political culture, minority rights, social norms and the future of Hungary.

 

 

Deputy Speaker Péter Harrach answering questions of the Hungarian American community at the Embassy of Hungary