Bilateral Relations between Hungary and Colombia since 1924 An Analysis of Diplomatic History

Abstract

Since the announcement of the Southern Opening Strategy in 2015, the relationship between Hungary and the South American countries has shown dynamic development in the last few years. In 2017, in line with seven other states in the region, Hungary reopened its embassy in the Colombian capital, Bogotá. As a result of the current foreign policy trends, alongside the globalization and technological development, diplomatic relations are becoming more and more valorised and appreciated with countries such as Colombia, which are happened to be tens of thousands of kilometers away from Hungary. Adapting to these circumstances, the present research overviews the topic of Colombian-Hungarian relations chronologically from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day in the form of a diplomatic history analysis. Reviewing the diplomatic connections in this order, a greater emphasis was placed on circumstances, which have played a key role in Hungarian-Colombian relations. One such unfortunate case was the attempted murder of the Colombian ambassador to Hungary in Budapest in 1987, but much more positive ones can be highlighted as well. An example for the latter is the joint Hungarian-Colombian project funded by the European Trust Fund in one of the provinces of Colombia, which has been hit hardest by the protracted conflict and drug trafficking.