| Budapest presents itself in Prague |
| Thursday, 28 May 2009 15:25 |
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The Mayor of Budapest, Gábor Demszky, who has visited Prague, brought not only an “Operetta between Budapest and Prague” to the stage of Hudební divadlo Karlín, but also interest in mutual cooperation. Prague and Budapest share a substantial element of common cultural inheritance. In the past both cities were part of one empire, they both went through the significant process of gaining independence, both cities experienced times of aspiration while establishing their freedom and both cities entered the European Union together. We share the same cultural, economic and social time-space,” said the Mayor of Prague, Pavel Bém, in his official welcoming speech. He also expressed his deepest thanks to the Mayor of Budapest for the city’s help at the time of the Prague flood in 2002.“We are grateful to Budapest for the help given to us during the devastating flood in Prague. This is a mutual demonstration of the quality of our cooperation in the past and we hope that the future will bring further development of our mutual relationship.” The performance which Gábor Demszky brought to Prague is really a continuation of a cultural exchange between the two cities. In May last year Prague presented, among other events, a concert by the Prague Symphony Orchestra in the Palace of Culture, Budapest. “I believe that we should go on. In Budapest we recently organised an event entitled “My City Budapest”, with the participation of Václav Havel and the group Plastic People of Universe. It’s an event aimed at young people who we want to encourage to be more interested in the city and life in the city. I think that precisely this event could be presented again, either this year or next year,” said Gábor Demszky. Both Mayors indicated that there should be a greater exchange of tourists between Prague and Budapest. Both cities have significant income from tourism, but they are not rivals, on the contrary, they have the same global exchange of tourists.
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 28 May 2009 15:31 |
