Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said on Sunday that Hungary-Turkey energy cooperation and the ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession were on the agenda of talks in Budapest between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Minister Szijjártó said Hungary and Turkey have maintained a strategic partnership, while the sides agreed earlier to build even closer cooperation. To that end, Erdoğan will again visit Budapest on December 18 to attend a meeting of the high-level strategic council and sign an agreement under which the two countries would cooperate as key strategic partners and provide mutual aid in emergency situations, he added. “This shows the dedication of both countries to enhancing cooperation and the fact that both countries clearly profit from this mutual cooperation,” he said. “Unfortunately, there have been several events recently that make such agreements timely and justified,” he added. “Turkey plays an extremely important and indispensable role in securing Hungary’s energy supplies, considering that a significant part of natural gas supplies arrives in Hungary through the TurkStream pipeline,” Minister Szijjártó said. Turkey’s role as a transit country will grow even further after the Hungary-Azerbaijan natural gas transport agreement enters into force and after Turkmen exports start in the direction of Europe,” he added.
The minister said energy cooperation will enter a new phase also because natural gas supplies can start from Turkey thanks to the finalisation of an agreement between Hungary’s MVM and Turkey’s Botas on the purchase of 275 million cubic metres of gas in the next years. “The 275 million cubic metres of gas will contribute to securing the country’s energy supplies and establishing physical natural gas transport links between Turkey and Hungary,” he added. Additionally, a decision has been made on starting talks about the storage of Turkish gas in Hungary for a fee, he said. Szijjártó said the ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession was also discussed and since both the Turkish and Hungarian parliaments are currently in recess, the issue will be returned to the agenda in the autumn. “We agreed that we would maintain continual consultations and stay in touch, informing each other on the state of parliamentary procedures and their progress,” he said.