Thank you very much.
First of all, I would like to apologize because I have not had enough time to prepare for a proper presentation as such. Our office was closed yesterday, so we basically received the invitation today. It was a very short notice.
Nevertheless, our embassy considers this invitation an honour, on one hand. On the other hand, it's an obligation and a responsibility to attend a meeting to which we've been invited, the same way as our government and our embassy in Ottawa have had such a responsible approach to the question and to the situation that had been bothering the bilateral relations between our two countries, Canada and Hungary.
Bothering, why? Because it seems that the high number of refugee claimants coming from Hungary to Canada is kind of a weird situation, on the one hand. On the other hand, there is no doubt that such a situation creates tension in relation to immigration questions and all kinds of situations that are definitely not facilitating the kind of smooth relationship we would like to have, based on shared values and objectives, so that our citizens would have had the mutual freedom of getting in contact with each other, knowing each other better, and so facilitating the better development of the overall relationship between our two countries and transatlantic society.
From that point of view, it has been the consideration of the Hungarian government to take responsibility for such a situation, on two sides—on the one hand, at home, which is the major task and the major responsibility, but on the other hand, also to cooperate, to provide help, or to provide assistance to the Canadian government in order to ease situations and tensions that might arise along the way.
It is that common responsibility in the face of such a situation that has brought me as a representative of the embassy of Hungary to the floor, and it puts me at your disposal. When you have questions, I will try to do my best to answer those questions.
Thank you very much.