RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 162, 24 August 1998

SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTRY 'CONCERNED' ABOUT DAM DISPUTE.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Milan Tokar on 20 August said
Bratislava is interested in improving its relations with
Hungary but that such improvement depends on respect for
"obligations stemming from The Hague International Court of
Justice ruling" on the dam dispute between the two
countries." Tokar said that the Slovak government had a
"fruitful dialogue" with the previous Hungarian government
and that experts representing the two sides reached
"agreement" on the implementation of the court's ruling.
Tokar expressed concern that "recent statements" by Hungarian
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi offer "a different
interpretation of the ruling." He added that "it looks as if
somebody wants to fabricate problems and complicate matters,
and this is not the Slovak side." MS

HUNGARY'S ARMED FORCES SUSPEND FIGHTER JET PURCHASE. Prime
Minister Viktor Orban told journalists on 22 August that the
current economic situation will not allow Hungary to purchase
new combat jets. Chief of Staff General Ferenc Vegh said
Hungary is postponing the announcement of a tender for the
purchase of new military aircraft until 2003, when the army
intends to buy 30 new fighters for some $1 billion.
Meanwhile, meeting with leaders of ethnic Hungarian
organizations beyond Hungary's borders on 20 August, Zsolt
Nemeth, state secretary at the Foreign Ministry, announced
that a summit of the leaders and representatives of those
organizations will take place later this year. Orban said at
that meeting that he "cannot comprehend" the termination of
Hungarian-language broadcasts on Slovak Television. MSZ

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