Hungary has always maintained excellent relations with Georgia throughout history. Georgia with rich past and traditions was known during the socialist era as an outstanding holiday destination and Hungarians longed for visiting and spending a vacation there. Our countries, being in the same political block were bonded economically, as well. These relations over the decades have been reclassified and transformed by now in all areas of economy and culture and I were curious, how. About the present situation, the actual cooperations and not least about tourism I asked the most competent person, H.E. Mr. Ambassador Zaal Gogsadze. I admit that never happened to me and it was more than touching when His Excellency recited a poem of Sándor Petőfi, one of the greatest Hungarian poets by heart in Georgian language
How did you imagine Hungary before your work as ambassador began here? Did the experiences meet the imagination? Have you visited our country before the official years?
My first meeting with Hungary and Hungarian culture were the Zichy paintings, with your famous painter, Mihály Zichy who illustrated our mostly famous poem of Sota Rusztaveli, The Knight of the Tiger Skin; it was in the 50-s of the last century. This was very popular in Georgia, so much that my father for instance who was a doctor by profession and painted, as well repainted these illustrations. The next was at the time of your revolution in 1956 when people talked among each other how Hungarians struggled for independence and freedom. My parents were also talking a lot about your Golden Team of football, we called it The Great Team of Hungary and often mentioned Ferenc Puskás, the most famous football player. I got to know the poems of Sándor Petőfi, there are fantastic translations of them and many Georgians know them by heart. Your Ikarus buses were very famous at us. The Hungarian agricultural products were very popular in our country, just like fresh fruits, goose liver, fruit jams and also we know your very good wines. Then I visited Hungary many years ago, Budapest, Szeged and Debrecen as a tourist and I have very good memories about that trip. Then 3 years ago I came here as an ambassador and I am very happy that I am working here, in your very hospitable country. My previous imaginations came reality and it is much more than I expected.
How would you evaluate the connection between our countries? How do you think it changed in the past 30 years and during your official years here?
Relations between Hungary and Georgia remain to be remarkable in both bilateral and multilateral formats. Bilateral relations between our two countries are firm and dynamic. Numerous agreements and memorandums are signed between different agencies of Georgia and Hungary.
In multiple occasions and ways Hungary has supported Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. Hungary is one of the most loyal supporters of Georgia when it comes to its Euro – Atlantic aspirations. Support has been often demonstrated by H.E. Péter Szíjjártó Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade who has visited Georgia twice in times of the pandemic. Hungary’s approach towards Eastern Partnership is very important to us also.
Georgia highly values Hungary’s vast experience in social programs. The purpose of the very recent visit of Vice Prime Minister of Georgia H.E. Levan Davitashvili was to gain and to acquire knowledge of Hungary’s social employment programs.
The strong cooperation between Georgia and Hungary was proved by the latest events of evacuation process in Afghanistan, Tbilisi International Airport has been utilized as a transit location for the evacuated personnel. Hungarian aircrafts transported numerous nationals from Afghanistan via Tbilisi including 6 Georgian private contractors.
Another good example of our cooperation was on 20-21 May, when Tbilisi hosted 4th session of Georgian – Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation. The parties discussed future perspectives for cooperation in which is a real potential.
How do you see the economic cooperation between our countries? Do you think it is satisfactory or could be more advantageous and if yes, how?
Back in the 90-s, when Georgia regained independence after 70 years of communism, Hungary was among the first supporters of our economic development. As I mentioned, we all remember IKARUS buses in Georgia and in general the car plate system we got from Hungary. We have to underline the cooperation in the medical sector, Hungarian company – Richter Gedeon has a big fleet branch in Georgia. We do have inter-trade and very beneficial terms for Hungarian and EU products imported in Georgia – ZERO import tax. Hungarian citizens working remotely from Georgia are subject to 10% personal income tax that is twice less than a Georgian citizen pays. Furthermore, according to the World Bank reports – Georgia is the number one country to start your business. Simplicity in tax management and fair regulations made Georgia attractive for Hungarian and EU citizens to visit, work and invest.
According to Herbert Simon (1916-2001) – one of the most famous economists, author of the theory of bounded rationality (a theory about economic decision-making that Simon himself preferred to call “satisficing”, a combination of two words: “satisfy” and “suffice”), we never have the privilege to stop development, hence we support the idea of establishment of the Hungarian-Georgian business council;
Currently the Georgian entrepreneurs are developing a platform www.georgian.hu dedicated to the products & services made in Georgia for direct and easy access to the Hungarian market.
At the same time, the trading platform for Hungarian products www.magyar.ge will be launched this year. We have a very tangible and substantial agenda for 2022 to enhance the economic relations with Hungary.
How do you see the tourism between our countries, could it be developed and if yes, how? How do you think the attention of Hungarians could be called up more to Georgia as a holiday and a winter holiday destination?
Georgia is one of the most absorbing travel destinations; we have successfully developed almost all travel varieties. I use the chance to emphasize the most important:
MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences & exhibitions) tourism – citizens from all over the world can visit Georgia and register the business entity within 1 hour at the cost of about 30 EUR. yes, that’s true! we managed to do it. The EU residents can open a bank account and get high interest rate on their deposited funds. Hungarians can start their startups in Georgia and the government will support them by grants to make prototypes, participate in the incubation and acceleration programs adopted by the most successful European and American stakeholders. Georgia is heaven for startupers and entrepreneurs.
Medical tourism – We all know that almost none of the health insurance packages cover stomatology in Hungary, on the contrary, ALL health insurance packages cover stomatology in Georgia and what is immensely important, dental services in Georgia have the highest standards. We have American, German, Austrian and many international hospitals in Georgia providing the EU grade services for less than half price in place. Furthermore, Georgia is very famous for phage therapy – we have tailor-made healing remedies curing patients who could not be treated elsewhere.
Professional tourism – Georgia is proud to host thousands of professionals from around the world doing their research and development, archaeology – the first European yet discovered comes from Georgia, Dmanisi hominins. The highest European settlements – Ushguli and Bochorna – are located in Georgia and etc.
We can endlessly speak about hiking and gastronomic tourism attractions especially when Georgia is generally considered as a cradle of wine with 8,000 years of winemaking and Quevri method protected by the UNESCO.
We are inviting bloggers, vloggers and famous travel influencers to Georgia this spring. They are the most reliable source of unbiased information for social media users. We follow the trends and adopt our methods to make tiny and gorgeous Georgia famous globally.
What events are held in order to introduce more about Georgia for the Hungarian people? Do you plan to hold more of these in the future?
Since the establishment of the Embassy of Georgia in Budapest, various events have been initiated and fulfilled for better introducing Georgia to the Hungarian society – be it several press tours organized by the Georgian National Tourism Administration with participation of Hungarian media representatives, publication of several books and number of articles dedicated to Georgia, or exhibitions and concerts showcasing Georgia’s rich cultural heritage.
The monument of Shota Rustaveli, Georgia poet of the XII century (author of the epic poem “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin”) was erected in Budapest in the vicinity of the Embassy, with valuable support of the relevant Hungarian Authorities.
The statue of Grigol Abashidze, Georgian poet, translator of Sandor Petofi’s works into the Georgian language, was placed in the garden of Petofi museum in Kiskoros.
A couple of years ago I had the honor to open with the Rector László Borhy the Georgian library at ELTE.
Various Georgian artists visit Budapest and give successful performances within festivals held in Hungary.
Of course, we will do our best to further strengthen our cooperation with our Hungarian partners in this direction.
Do you think more people could be invited to Hungary as tourists and if yes how? What are the Georgian people know about Hungary and what would interest them most here if arrive as a tourist?
Your beautiful country is more and more interesting for Georgians – your beautiful capital city-pearl of Danube Budapest, the Balaton area and many other historic and touristic sights are very popular among Georgians. Having direct flights from the second-largest Georgian city – Kutaisi to Budapest plays a significant role in increasing number of travellers to Hungary, but we also need to have direct flights from/to Tbilisi – the capital city of Georgia.
Hungary is a very popular educational destination for Georgian students thanks to the Hungaricum Stipendium scholarship program provided by the Hungarian Government.
We closely cooperate with the relevant Hungarian authorities and fully support the Hungarian Embassy’s actibities in Tbilisi to more Hungary more attractive for Georgians. For thousands of reasons your wonderful country has to excite visitors at the first glance.
In the field of culture and education what kind of cooperations are today and what others are planned?
As I have already mentioned, we have close cooperation in the field of education: Within the Stipendium Hungaricum program Hungarian Governmentoffers 80 scholarship annually to students from Georgia. The program is very popular among Georgian youngsters.
As for our cultural relations, they have a more distant historical past: the most outstanding, of course, is the work of the famous Hungarian artist Mihály Zichy in Georgia.
Immeasurable is the contribution of prominent Hungarian Kartvelologists (specialist of Georgian studies) Lajos Tardy, Márton Istvánovits, Margit Bíró and Hajnalka Babirák in the strengthening of Georgian – Hungarian cultural ties. A couple of years ago, the poem ,,Giacomo Ponti’’ written by the famous Georgian poet Dato Maghradze was published in Hungary and translated was By Hajnalka.
in 2019, the Georgian Library named after Márton Istvánovits was officially opened at the ELTE in Budapest. At ELTE the course of Georgian language and culture is offered under supervision of Benedek Zsigmond, specialist of Caucasian studies. The course of Hungarian language and culture is taught by Árpád Éles at Tbilisi State University.
We were very happy that Prof. Dr. László Borhy, Rector of the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) of Budapest, has been awarded in the nomination “Foreign Friend of Georgia” in recognition of his contribution to the strengthening of educational and cultural ties between Georgia and Hungary, at the annual celebratory event in Tbilisi on December 27, 2021.
In September the In September 2021, the Ministry of Culture of Georgia supported the initiative of the Hungarian Embassy in Georgia and approved the „Mihly Zichy Cultural Route in Georgia.”
Recenltly Prof. Dr. Miklos Kásler, Minister of Human Capacities of Hungary, visited Georgia and met his Georgian counterparts. The parties agreed to cooperate in various fields, including archaeology, archaeo-genetics, oncology and to promote joint research prohects.
What do you love most in Hungary and what less? What are your favourite cities, places in Hungary and why? How do you see Hungarian people?
I love many things about Hungary – Budapest, deservedly called „the pearl of the Danube”, I consider it to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I like a lot the cities of Pécs, Sopron, Szeged. I enjoy spending summer week-ends in the Balaton region. The Hungarian people like Georgians are very hospitable with interesting and rich traditions. It is a great honor and priviledge for me to represent Georgia in your wonderful country.
