Peter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said in Belgrade on Friday that strategic links are being built between Hungary and Serbia in energy and transport.
Minister Szijjártó said Europe was currently facing some serious crises and the energy supply crisis especially stands out among these. Only those who can feel safe can create as many links in energy supplies with their neighbors as possible, he added. The sides are in a good position with the launch of a regional joint gas trading company which has already been registered, he said, according to a foreign ministry statement. “This is an important step forward from the point of view of the safety of our energy supply because practically we can harmonise Serbian-Hungarian gas purchases and Serbian-Hungarian gas trading, and the markets of the two countries are far more interesting to international players than the market of just one country because together they are larger than either of them separately,” he added. “This guarantees important security to us from the point of energy strategy,” Minister Szijjártó said. The foreign minister said preparations for the construction of a crude oil pipeline between the two countries were underway. The pipeline will further increase the security of supplies, he added. “We, Hungarians can sense this directly since Ukraine and Croatia have increased transit fees several times,” said Minister Szijjártó. Additionally, the capacity of the electricity grid connecting Hungary and Serbia was also being doubled with the project expected to be completed by 2028, he said. Szijjártó also said that the strategic links also involved transport, with passenger transport to start on the new Szeged-Subotica rail line on October 24.