On March 2, 2023, Minister Péter Szijjártó visited Topolovác, Croatia, where, together with his Croatian partner, he inaugurated the school damaged in the December 2020 earthquake and renovated by the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade contributed 60 million forints to the project, within the framework of which the school was structurally strengthened, renovated and equipped. The official handover of the school and the unveiling of the donor's memorial plaque took place with the participation of Minister Péter Szijjártó and his Croatian partner Gordan Grlic Radman, as well as Executive Vice President Lajos Győri-Dani from the Maltese Charity Service and Mayor Kristina Ikić Baniček from the city of Sziszek.
In his speech, Péter Szijjártó was one of the first to underline that in Hungary we see Croatia as a friendly nation and the Croats as a brotherly people. Seeing the consequences of the earthquakes in Croatia in December 2020, it was clear to us that we would help our neighbor. Since it is a primary school, he emphasized that we considered it particularly important to avoid children and families being the main losers of a natural disaster. Following the request of the Charity Service, the Hungarian government was therefore happy to provide support, with a financial contribution of HUF 60 million, with which the building, which was in a life-threatening condition, was restored, rebuilt and strengthened. Thanks to the restoration, we not only returned the teachers' jobs and the security of access to learning, but the children also got back the stability of their previous accustomed living space.
