Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said that through "building joint successes", Hungary and Slovakia will be able to solve their most complicated problems, adding that better bilateral ties would also improve the situation of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia.
Minister Szijjártó said in an interview with Danubia Television, after the recent opening of a new bridge at Ipolydamásd, that Slovakia is Hungary’s second most important trading partner, with bilateral trade turnover reaching a record 17 billion euros last year. Citing examples of Slovak-Hungarian cooperation, he said Slovaks had helped Hungary protect its southern borders, the two countries had stood up jointly against mandatory resettlement quotas, they had linked their electricity grids and also had a gas pipeline connection. Additionally, Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s Slovak subsidiary is one of the largest companies in Slovakia, he said. Commenting on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Slovakia, he said the government was rooting for the ethnic Hungarian party to achieve good results and for ethnic Hungarians to have a strong representation in Bratislava. He said Hungary was also rooting for Slovakia to have a government that considers Hungarian-Slovak cooperation important and which sees it as an opportunity rather than a problem.