Turkey is a reliable and predictable transit partner without whom Hungary’s secure energy supply would not be guaranteed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Ankara on Wednesday.
Responding to a question at a press conference, Szijjártó expressed Hungary’s gratitude for Turkey’s role in ensuring the country’s energy security, according to MTI.
There can be no secure energy supply in Hungary without the transit route in Turkey,”
he said, noting that the TurkStream gas pipeline is the only reliable east-west pipeline in Europe. The Hungarian government will continue to rely on Turkey’s role as a gas transit country, he said, pointing to a developing agreement to purchase gas from Azerbaijan, which would require the same transit route. Talks are also underway with Turkish energy company BOTAŞ on the purchase of Turkish gas, he added.
Szijjártó also stressed the importance of nuclear energy in energy cooperation, as Hungary and Turkey are building nuclear power plants using the same technology. The reactor blocks under construction in Turkey are expected to be the first to be put into operation and will provide Hungary with useful information, he said.
The Foreign Minister also attended the inauguration of an incubator plant built by Hungary’s Medicor. He said that the Hungarian government had provided a 480 million forint (128 million euro) grant for the 800 million forint project, adding that the facility would start production in the second half of the year.
Szijjártó said Medicor would also move its research and development activities to Ankara, in preparation for “pioneering efforts by Hungarian and Turkish engineers to make services for premature babies more effective”.
Featured photo via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter