(ANSA) - UDINE - ''We need to revive the institutional dialogue between our government and eastern and central European countries, currently insufficient as there is an ideological block'', according to Paolo Petiziol, president of the Mitteleuropa cultural association (based in Udine) and since November 1996 Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in northeast Italy, recently awarded the Hungarian Cross of Merit by the Presidency of the Hungarian Republic. This is the 17th award given to Petiziol during its long institutional and diplomatic career. ''An honour motivated by the relations of cooperation - said Petiziol - that I have always developed with the Hungarian government from 1997 to date''. The Honorary Consul also underlined its commitment ''to develop activities and relations between Italy and Eastern and Central Europe, from Hungary to Poland and Austria, since today - he reiterated - dialogue is insufficient lacking even because the real measures taken in those countries are often distorted for political reasons''. Janos Ader, President of the Republic of Hungary, gave Petiziol, upon proposal of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the highest honor ''for his constant commitment, in recent decades, to develop Italian-Hungarian relations and strengthen cooperation between central and eastern European countries''. The award was presented to him by Deputy Prime Minister SenJen Zsolt on June 2, Italy's Republic Day, during the ceremony held at the Italian Cultural Institute in Budapest.

Petiziol, who is also the editor-in-chief of the magazine ''Mitteleuropa'', has announced its commitments in the coming months: he'll organise an exhibition focusing on Aquileia in Dublin, Ireland, where it will open in August in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio in the Irish capital, '' who is also titular bishop of Aquileia'', Petiziol underlined. The Consul has been invited by Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, to participate in the Bled Strategic Forum which will be held in Slovenia in September, and then he will take part in the mission to promote regional tourism in Plzen (Czech Republic). In October, will be held in Udine the annual Forum organised by the Mitteleuropa cultural association, focusing this year on the theme ''Europe, an area extended from the Atlantic Sea to the Urals, or disputed between the Atlantic Sea and the Urals'?''.