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Hungary West Germany
Since the early 1970s, when the Four Power Agreement on
Berlin and the Basic Treaty between East Germany and West
Germany
normalized West Germany's relations with the Soviet Union
and
East Germany, respectively, Hungary has greatly expanded
its ties
with West Germany. After West German chancellor Helmut
Kohl's
visit to Hungary in 1984, the Hungarian press stressed the
special place of West Germany in Hungary's foreign policy
and
West Germany's efforts to reduce tension between East and
West.
Nepszabadsag called Kohl "the patron of East-West
relations." Over the course of the 1980s, political
contacts and
dialogue have been constant and frequent, despite problems
in
superpower relations.
For Hungary, West Germany has served as an economic
gateway
to the West. In the late 1980s, West Germany was Hungary's
largest Western trading partner. As of 1984, 332
cooperation
agreements linked the economies of the two countries. That
same
year, the two countries extended a ten-year agreement on
economic, industrial, and technical cooperation signed in
1974.
In 1987 Hungary and West Germany signed a five-year
agreement on
scientific and technical cooperation.
Cultural relations between the two countries also
expanded.
In 1987 the two governments agreed to set up cultural and
information centers in each other's country and concluded
a visa
agreement easing restrictions on Hungarians trying to
enter West
Germany. The West Germans also praised Hungary's treatment
of its
German minority and its policy of allowing ethnic Germans
to
resettle in West Germany.
Data as of September 1989
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