Janos kadarMr. General Secretary, I welcome you and the members of your delegation most warmly to this country. We are delighted to have you here as our guests. As a representative of a country with a very long and proud history of its own, I know you will feel and respond to the sense of history here in 10 Downing Street, which will shortly be celebrating its 250th Anniversary as the home and the office of British Prime Ministers. I am very pleased that you have stepped in to our history. Indeed your visit is an historic event in itself, the first time that we have welcomed [end p1] to No. 10 a leader from an Eastern European country in his capacity as General Secretary of the Communist Party.
I myself have the warmest memories of my own visit to Hungary last year.
It was a great honour to be the first British Prime Minister to visit your country. I well remember the tremendous hospitality and friendliness you and your people showed me. When I tried to buy some paprika and some honey in your market, they were pressed into my hand as a gift. And the people who were shopping there gave [end p2] me such a warm and wholehearted welcome that I shall treasure the memory always. I hope you will have a similar experience at Sainsbury's when you go there tomorrow!
We were also pleased to welcome here to London in the last twelve months your colleagues Mr. Szuros and Mr. Varkonyi. I remember that when Mr. Szuros came to see me he quoted a Chinese proverb: “it is better to see something once than hear it a thousand times” . We are very pleased that you are seeing us first-hand. [end p3]
Our talks here today, like those in Budapest last year, have brought home to me the many common objectives we share—peace, prosperity and security, a sense of national achievement.
The route by which we reach those objectives may differ. But it is right that we should discuss the issues that divide us. It is a great encouragement to me that we have been able to do this, if not in the same mother tongue, at least in the same language of common concern for the future of our two countries and of a troubled world. [end p4]
We in Britain are proud of our standards of freedom, justice and democracy. This is one reason why we, like you, as fellow Europeans, are fully committed to the Helsinki Accords of 1975. It offers a code for international relations and civilised government. It is also designed to improve the lives of ordinary people and open up new contacts between them. So we value Hungary's contribution, by being host at the present time, to the Cultural Forum in Budapest. [end p5]
Britain is committed to seeking ways to improve relations across the East/West divide. Each of us will remain loyal to our own Alliance. But friendship is not exclusive. And I know that we share a belief that friendship between European countries such as ours can be good in itself and in building confidence between East and West.
We are also following closely developments in your economy. We respect the originality and flexibility which your Government has shown in tackling the problems, many of which are [end p6] common to us all. We shall be interested to see to what extent your pioneering course is treated as a model by others.
Mr. General Secretary, you will find that there is in Britain a deep interest in your country. There is also respect for Hungarian achievements. These feelings are based on strong historical connections of which I spoke when I was in Budapest. On Saturday you will be travelling to Scotland to see something of Britain outside London. [end p7] A visit to Wales might have done more to please Sir Geoffrey Howe, my Foreign Secretary. But I am told Wales is still nursing the wounds of a three nil defeat by your footballers a fortnight ago! So Scotland, for once, is a safer place.
One of the most visible and striking signs of our history of cooperation is the bridge over the Danube at Budapest, built by a Scot in the last century. Bridge-building is a metaphor much used in international relations. Our job is to give it meaning. [end p8] Your visit to London as the Leader of the Hungarian people does just that.
I raise my glass to the Hungarian people and to you personally and ask my guests to join me in drinking to your health and prosperity.