Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the strategic partnership and friendship between Hungary and Serbia greatly helps Hungary better handle the unprecedented challenges it faces.
Following talks between the prime ministers of Hungary and Serbia in Belgrade, Minister Szijjártó said on Facebook that the majority of central European countries were facing challenges in three areas: the economy, security, and energy supplies. The strategic alliance that Hungary maintains with Serbia helps handle challenges in all three areas, he added. The most important challenge concerns energy supplies, with the two countries “holding on each other more strongly than ever before” in order to guarantee long-term energy supplies, he said. In line with a long-term agreement with Gazprom, natural gas supplies for Hungary arrive through Serbia and Hungary stores several million cubic metres of gas for Serbia, he added. An agreement has been signed under which this year Hungary will again keep gas in Hungarian storage capacities for Serbia, he said. Preparations are under way to double the capacity of the electricity interconnector between the two countries and to make electricity transport easier, faster, and simpler, he added.