"For Hungary, the providing of assistance is never in question when a neighboring country is in trouble, regardless of the state of political affairs, bilateral relations or possible disputes," Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said in Petrinja, Croatia, on Monday. The minister attended the inauguration of a local primary school, rebuilt with 8.7 billion forints (about 22.5 million euros) of Hungarian government support after it was severely damaged in the 2020 earthquake.
We laid the foundation stone a year and a half ago, and the school opened in January this year. Students are back in the 5,500 square meter building with 20 classrooms and 350 students are now receiving a high quality education,
he stressed, expressing his thanks to the Hungarian Interchurch Aid organization for carrying out the works.
The Hungarian government, Hungarian church and civil organizations, and Hungarian companies investing in Croatia immediately rushed to the country's aid, he said, recalling that the natural disaster had caused the deaths of many people in the neighboring country along with material damage topping some two billion forints (over 5 million euros). "Natural disasters take away part of the past, part of life, many human lives and destroy decades of work. But we cannot allow natural disasters to take away our future. Especially not the future of our children," he warned.
Szijjarto said that this is why the Hungarian government has provided funding for the renovation of two schools and a church in Croatia. He said that the complete reconstruction of the primary school in Petrinja was supported with 8.7 billion forints, while the renovation of the school in Topolovac was supported with 60 million forints (about 155 thousand euros) and the construction of the church in Sisak (Sziszek) with 750 million forints (nearly 2 million euros).
