OREANDA-NEWS. At the 26th Economic Forum in Krynica, Poland, Prime Minister Viktor Orban received the Person of the Year award, which is the event’s most prestigious honour.

When receiving the award, Mr. Orban said that if he had been asked, he could have suggested a number of excellent candidates for the award. He added that recent years have been great starting steps for Central Europe’s awakening and renaissance, and that there are excellent colleagues in the Visegrad Group, any of whom could have been selected for the award.

The Prime Minister said that the award is for issues, and issues are represented by people. He added that over the past three decades he has stood up for a number of causes, but this award must have been presented to him for his work in the interest of Central Europe.

Mr. Orban stressed that the nations of Central Europe must protect their religious, national and historic identities, as these are not old pieces of clothing which in modern times can be taken off, but are protective armour which helps our survival and could make us successful. He added that the communities which will be successful are the ones which have strong identities.

The Prime Minister said that we must protect our identity, otherwise “we will have no place under the sun”. He also emphasised the importance of Hungarian-Polish friendship and the good relations between the two nations and their leaders. Of all their friendships with the world’s nations, Hungarians have the highest appreciation for their friendship with Poland; therefore this award is even more precious, as it was given by the Polish out of friendship, he added.