August 26, 2008

Hungarian American Professor Charles Gati Awarded For Promoting  International Relations of Hungary

Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Göncz presented the “2008 Certificate of Merit in Promoting Hungarian International Relations” in Budapest, Hungary on Monday, August 25. This year the official recognition of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was awarded to three individuals for their outstanding achievements in negotiating Hungary’s foreign policy interests in the United States, for promoting bilateral relations between Hungary and Vietnam, and for developing the culture of regional security policy and promoting Euro-Atlantic integration.

 

Political Science Professor Charles Gati, who has worked at the Russian and Eurasian Studies Department of Johns Hopkins University and been research fellow at the university’s foreign policy institute since 2000, received the distinction for strengthening Hungarian-American relations and a decade of work to improve the image of Hungary in the United States.
 

Nguyen Quang A, Chairman of the Association of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs, Chairman of the Vietnamese-Hungarian Business Council, and literary translator, was given the award for promoting Hungarian culture and for strengthening Hungarian-Vietnamese political and economic relations.
 

Dr. László Tóth, who has been director of the Centre for Security Policy in Szeged since its foundation in January 2000, was recognised for developing the culture of regional security policy, for promoting Euro-Atlantic integration in the region and for a credible presentation of the foreign-policy aims of the Republic of Hungary to civil groups and among university students.

Earlier recipients of the certificate were Mrs. László Csabai, Mayor of Nyíregyháza; Dr. István Elek, founder of Diplomata Magazine; Péter Hegedűs, Chairman of the Hungarian US Chamber of Commerce; Dr. András Inotai, head of the World Economy Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; László Lehel, head of Hungarian Ecumenical Aid; Dr. Zsolt Rostoványi, Dean of the Social Sciences Faculty of Corvinus University; Dr. Zoltán Szedlacskó, Chairman of EUROHAND PLC; Sándor Szenczy, Chairman of the Hungarian Baptist Aid Foundation; and Dr. László Valki, Head of the Department of International Law at Eötvös Loránd University.

 

The award of the 'Certificate of Merit in Promoting Hungarian International Relations'

The “Certificate of Merit in Promoting Hungarian International Relations” was established by the Foreign Minister in 2004 in order to give recognition to individuals for their outstanding achievements in negotiating Hungary’s foreign policy interests as well as developing the network of the Hungarian diplomatic and consular service. Individuals are also recognised for deepening Euro-Atlantic integration and enhancing bilateral relations between the Republic of Hungary and foreign countries. The Award is presented each year at the end of August on the anniversary of the 1842 groundbreaking ceremony of Budapest’s Chain Bridge.