Past Events
United States and Hungary sign a Criminal Data Exchange Agreement
On October 1, 2008 Ambassador April Foley and the Minister of Justice Tibor Draskovics signed an Agreement for Enhancing Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Serious Crime. This was the last agreement necessary to be signed before Hungary could become eligible for the visa waiver status. In her remarks at the Foreign Ministry signing, Ambassador Foley noted that the two-way sharing of criminal data will make the citizens of both countries safer. It will strengthen joint efforts to combat trans-national crime and help bring criminals to justice. She also stressed that the negotiators have placed great importance on creating an agreement that meets Hungary's high legal standard for data protection. This agreement is one of the final milestones on the road to realizing President Bush's vision of visa waiver travel for Hungarians.