Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary and Slovakia are opening the second chapter of their agreement on expanding their number of border crossing points, under which they will begin planning the construction of three new bridges and four new connecting roads.
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary and Slovakia both have a vested interest in ensuring that Europe’s longest border connects rather than divides the two countries.
Whereas in the past the 654km border had only 22 crossing points, under an agreement between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, it now has 40, Minister Szijjártó said.
"This is good for everyone; it’s good for Hungarians, for Slovaks, for those living in southern Slovakia, for the two economies," Minister Szijjártó said. "Therefore, a decision was made today to open the second chapter agreement on increasing the number of border crossing points," he added.
Under the agreement, Hungary and Slovakia will begin planning the construction of three new bridges. One bridge to serve freight traffic will be built in the Esztergom area, another to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists will be opened at Dunakiliti, and a third will be built on the river Tisza at Cierna (Agcsernyo), he said.
Meanwhile, Minister Szijjártó said the M2 motorway will be extended northwards, and three other roads are planned to be built at Ipolyvece, Zabar and Vamosmikola, respectively. Also, several older border crossing points will be renovated, such as the bridge at Vamosszabadi, he added.
New train services will also be launched with a view to facilitating cross-border rail traffic between Győr and Bratislava, Szob and Sturovo, as well as near Balassagyarmat and Salgótarján, the minister said.
He also underscored the importance of strengthening Hungary and Slovakia’s shared intention to establish cross-border rescue and health-care cooperation. "Because there could come a situation on either side of the border that the nearest ambulance station or the best-equipped hospital on the other side of the border is much closer than the one in our own country," he explained.
"So it’s clearly in our interest to sign a new agreement on cross-border rescue and health-care cooperation so that those living in the border regions receive the most urgent and highest-quality care possible when they need it," Minister Szijjártó said.
Meanwhile, he said Hungary had a vested interest in the success of the Visegrad Group, noting that the alliance had allowed Hungary, Czechia, Poland and Slovakia to achieve "critically important" goals they would not have been able to on their own.
"Had the prime ministers of the Visegrad countries not cooperated, today there would be tens or hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants roaming the central European countries," he said. "So our interests lie in the Visegrad cooperation being as effective as possible in the areas in which our countries have shared interests."
Minister Szijjártó also said that though there were sharp disagreements among the V4 countries on certain geopolitical issues, such as the war in Ukraine, if everyone were able to focus on the areas on which there is agreement, the Visegrad cooperation could resume.
"For our part, we will do everything in order to make this happen," Minister Szijjártó said, adding that both Hungary and Slovakia were prepared to resume cooperation.