Hungary benefits greatly in terms of security of energy supply from closer cooperation with Azerbaijan.Continue reading
A consortium of Hungary’s largest construction companies will rebuild the village of Soltanli in the Nagorno-Karabakh region starting next year. The Azerbaijani government has approved the plans for the project, and some of the contracts have already been signed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Monday.
It is an important achievement that Hungary can also play a role in the reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh and that a consortium of the largest domestic construction companies can start work in Soltanli next year, Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference he held jointly with Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan.
He also pointed out that plans that started in early 2010, have now become a reality as natural gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Hungary will start this year, improving energy security.
The minister recalled that
the parties have signed a contract for the supply of 100 million cubic meters of gas and 50 million cubic meters of leased gas storage,
but to increase the volume would require not only a commitment from Hungary and Azerbaijan, but also action by the EU to develop energy infrastructure in southeastern Europe.
“We call on the European Union not to limit its efforts to diversify energy supply to “nudging” the Member States, but to act and provide financial resources to enable Hungary and other Central European countries to increase the volume of gas supplied from Azerbaijan by expanding the capacity of natural gas transport infrastructure,” he said.
Szijjártó also pointed out that Hungarian exports to Azerbaijan increased by 3.5 times in the first half of this year and their value is already significantly higher than that of the whole of last year.
“We have set an absolute record in exports, and our imports are also increasing significantly,” he stressed, adding that
MOL plays an important role in oil production in Azerbaijan, meaning that the volume of oil imports is also increasing to ensure Hungary’s energy security.
“We started building relations with Azerbaijan in 2010, when not only no one in Europe understood it, not only everyone despised us for it, but we were even criticized for it. Today, on the contrary, we see the leaders of the Western European countries and the European Union in Baku pushing each other for a good photo with President Aliyev,” he said.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomed Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan, Mikayil Jabbarov, at the Carmelite Monastery on Monday. The meeting was also attended by Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Márton Nagy, Minister of Economic Development. At the meeting, focusing on energy cooperation, the head of government said it was an important development for Hungary’s energy security that the Azerbaijani energy company had started storing natural gas in Hungarian storage facilities on the basis of contracts signed in early July, creating a physical gas transport link between the two countries.
Via Ungarn Heute, Featured image: Facebook/Orbán Viktor