Turkey Crucial for Hungary’s Energy Security, Foreign Minister Says

Turkey’s Minister of Industry and Technology Mustafa Varank attended a meeting of the Hungarian-Turkish Joint Economic Committee in Budapest on Monday. Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó also addressed the event.

Cooperation between Hungary and Turkey is a great help in overcoming difficulties; without it, Hungary’s energy security could not be guaranteed and several economic records could not have been broken last year, Szijjártó said, who held a press conference with Mustafa Varank after the session.

Both the economy and energy supply are facing uncertainty, brutal price increases, and supply difficulties in Central and Eastern Europe,

the minister warned.

Szijjártó stressed that Hungary’s secure gas supply is ensured by the TurkStream, which is now the only reliable east-west pipeline in Europe operating at 100 percent capacity. He said that last year, 4.8 billion cubic meters of gas arrived in Hungary via this route, which is about half of the total consumption, so its loss would make the supply impossible.

Sanayi ve Teknoloji Bakanımız Sn. @varank ve Macaristan Dışişleri ve Dış Ticaret Bakanı Péter Szijjarto’nun eş başkanlıklarında KEK 8. Dönem Toplantısı Budapeşte’de düzenlendi. @TCSanayi pic.twitter.com/6r7eZ2DlQo

— T.C. Budapeşte Büyükelçiliği (@tc_budapeste) January 16, 2023

“Hungarian-Turkish cooperation has been a great help in overcoming difficulties in recent years and a great help in dealing with the crises of the present,” he said, and then awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit to Mustafa Varank for his indispensable role in this field.

Márton Nagy, Minister of Economic Development, also held talks with the Turkish minister on Monday. They agreed on the need to further strengthen economic cooperation, particularly in the fields of defense, health, pharmaceuticals, food, tourism, and energy.

Featured photo via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter