I’ve been in Hungary, though, for the last month or so: I spent 5 weeks in nearby Velence improving my Hungarian. I really enjoyed the experience. Not just getting the language up to scratch but also getting to know how Hungarians live.

I’ve come to appreciate Hungarian cuisine, wine and, of course, palinka and, after Hungary’s great performances in the European championships, even some of the finer points of waterpolo. I’m looking forward to supporting the Hungarian teams again (from an armchair) when they play at the London Olympics in the summer.

The UK and Hungary share a strong relationship already, but I look forward to helping to develop that relationship over the next few years. In particular there’s a solid commercial exchange. But I feel there’s more we can do: both our countries need to trade our way out of difficult economic times and I’d like to see more British and Hungarian firms develop strong links. Identifying those opportunities and encouraging those relationships will be one of my main challenges here.

As a first step I’ll be doing an extended interview with Napi Gazdasag, a leading Hungarian economic daily about what the UK has to offer Hungarian firms. It will come out on 9 March. I hope you can take a look at it and let me know what you think. It’d be great to have suggestions for areas of cooperation we can develop.

I’ll keep you informed of what I’ve been up to through this blog. And I’ll reply to as many comments and questions as I can."

Source: blogs.fco.gov.uk