BUDAPEST - The Saudi ambassador to Budapest will return to Hungary soon after being recalled in protest in February because Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany called the Saudi football team "Arab terrorists," the foreign ministry said Monday.
"The Saudi Arabian ambassador to Budapest will return shortly to his posting," Hungarian foreign ministry spokesman Viktor Polgar told MTI national news agency.
He said the ministry received the notification from the Saudi embassy in Hungary.
Saudi Arabia ordered its ambassador back to Riyadh for consultations in February to protest Gyurcsany's off-the-cuff remark.
Gyurcsany had hailed Hungary's football team for having "fought with death-defying courage" against "Arab terrorists" in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia on February 2.
Gyurcsany has since apologised publicly and also in a letter to the Saudi government.
05/02/2005 13:19 GMT