Hungarian Foreign Minister Proposes An "International Institution for Democracy"

In a press conference with American Secretary of State Colin Powell at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Budapest, Hungary, on July 27,2004. For the full transcript, you can click here.

"...we are eager to see the next phase of our contribution, to participate in the economic reconstruction of [Iraq and Afghanistan], but also to building democracy. And that encourages me to raise one issue with you in front of the heads of our diplomatic missions. I think we could discuss a project to establish in Budapest a kind of international institution for democracy. In order to project democracy, based on our experiences, not only the experiences of Hungary that you praise, but also the experiences of other countries in the region, because we have rich experiences in the political and economic transition. And I think we would all be eager to share it with those countries that are still lagging behind. And I think that could be a very fair contribution to a more stable, more democratic world."