Péter Szijjártó thinks that just like Hungary, the European Union could benefit greatly from close cooperation with Serbia.Continue reading
After the EU summit, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán traveled to Serbia on Saturday for a working visit, where he met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Among the topics of discussion were the EU integration of Serbia and the Western Balkans, the steadily developing Hungarian-Serbian bilateral relations, and the possibilities of facilitating a ceasefire and peace talks in the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Commenting on the meeting in a video on his Facebook page, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the strategic partnership and friendship between Hungary and Serbia will greatly contribute to Hungary’s ability to better address the unprecedented challenges it faces. He emphasized that the majority of Central European countries are facing three main challenges today: economic, security, and energy supply.
Szijjártó stressed that the most important challenge was energy supply, and that the two countries were “clinging together even more closely than before” to guarantee energy supplies in the long term. He recalled that
under the long-term agreement with Gazprom, natural gas for Hungary’s supply comes via Serbia, and Hungary stores hundreds of millions of cubic meters of gas for Serbia.
The foreign minister added that it has been agreed that just like last year, Hungary will store natural gas for Serbia in Hungarian gas storage facilities this year, and preparations are underway to double the capacity of the electricity interconnection between Hungary and Serbia, in order to make the electricity flow easier, faster, and simpler.
Viktor Orbán and Aleksandar Vucic even enjoyed a billiards game during the visit. Photo: MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán
Szijjártó also stated that migration pressure was increasing and the root causes had not been addressed, but it would be a great help if Hungary could cooperate with the Western Balkan countries. “This cooperation with Serbia is good, and 30 Hungarian police officers are serving on Serbia’s southern border, so that we can move the line of defense on the Hungarian border as far south as possible,” he said.
Besides the meeting of Viktor Orbán and Aleksandar Vucic, the Hungarian Foreign Minister also met with Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali. They discussed future strategic cooperation between the two countries.
Featured photo via MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán