At a press conference held on 24 February, Dr. Ákos Priza and Lajos Kósa mayors announced that Miskolc and Debrecen would like to cooperate in boosting the tourism in the two cities and their regions, in economic development and in training football supplies.
One means of doing so might be the new flights between London and Debrecen that Wizz Air going to start in June 2012. The flight makes it possible for the visiting tourist to explore not only Debrecen and the Hortobágy area but also Miskolc and the popular tourist sites of Northern Hungary, like Lillafüred or Aggtelek. The goal is to make Debrecen and Miskolc more attractive for tourists. To this end, the two cities are going to select those cultural programmes, festivals etc. that might be interesting for foreigners and promote them.
As for economy, the two cities are trying to find common interests in economic improvement in which exchanging experience plays an important role. The Chinese-Hungarian Clean Energy Center that is to be established can give possibilities for this. Since the goal of the center is developing technologies that produce renewable, “clean energy”, the activity of Biogas-Misckolc Kft. which works on utilizing sewage sludge could be connected to the activity of the energy center.
The third area of planned cooperation is sport. The two mayors discussed how Debrecen and Miskolc could play a part in training the next generation of football players. Both of them agreed that football is an identity-developing, community-forming activity in both cities. That is why Debrecen decided to organize a football academy. The two leaders also talked about the possibility of contacting the MLSZ (“Hungarian Football Association”)and discussing how the association could support the efforts of Debrecen and Miskolc. Besides football, the mayors considered an active cooperation in “ice-sports” and in organizing regional tournaments.
