Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Hungary and its partners have made a commitment to a unique project, the construction of the world's longest submarine cable to deliver electricity from Azerbaijan via Georgia and Romania to Hungary.
Ahead of the signing ceremony of an agreement in Bucharest on Saturday, the prime minister said the EU is in a “strategic vacuum”, in which the leaders of member states need to ensure energy and economic security for their countries through identifying and securing new energy sources. He said that energy sources in the Caspian region were “within a reasonable distance” and the cable project would provide an “innovative solution” for their exploitation. The cable, delivering Azerbaijan’s electricity generated mostly from wind and solar energy, will be 1,195 kms long and completed with an optic internet cable linking Romania and Georgia. PM Orbán signed the deal with his Romanian and Georgian counterparts and the president of Azerbaijan with the EC’s head attending. Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the new cable would have a capacity of 3 GWs, and “break a world record in terms of its length”. A feasibility study is set to be completed by late 2023 and construction will then “theoretically” take another three to four years, he said. He welcomed that the EC regarded the project as an investment of common interest and allocated 2.3 bn euros for it.