Szijjártó - Korčok meeting: it is in the interest of both countries to establish new connections between them
Both Hungary and Slovakia benefit a lot from the cooperation between the two countries, especially in the current tense global economic situation, which appreciates the importance of stable, predictable relations, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Friday after receiving his Slovak counterpart in Budapest.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the head of the ministry emphasized at the joint press conference held with Ivan Korčok that both Hungary and Slovakia are directly confronted with the dangers and challenges posed by a war in the neighborhood.
"Both countries have accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees so far. In Hungary, we have provided access and care for 800,000 refugees from Ukraine, and we will maintain this as long as it is necessary," he stated.
In this regard, he thanked the people and organizations participating in the largest humanitarian action in the history of Hungary, as well as the Slovaks who carried out similar activities.
Péter Szijjártó then touched on the issue of economic challenges, pointing out that, in addition to inflation, energy prices and interest rates have skyrocketed. In addition, he believed that an economic crisis on a global scale could easily develop as a result of the current situation.
"The world economy is full of tensions, the visible sign of which is that we are under incredible international pressure to accept the introduction of the global minimum tax in Europe," he emphasized, adding that this would have a "tragic effect" on the European and Hungarian economies.
The tense global economic situation increases the importance of stable and predictable economic cooperation. Such stable and predictable economic cooperation between Hungary and Slovakia has been established in recent years, from which both countries and economies benefit a lot, he said.
The minister welcomed the fact that the value of Hungarian-Slovak trade turnover exceeded 13 billion euros last year, which is a record, and that in the first three months of 2022 the increase was 49 percent.
He underlined: it is in the interest of both countries to create new connections between them, and the program aimed at creating six new border crossing opportunities is progressing well.
Péter Szijjártó stated in connection with the challenges related to energy supply that
the two countries have similar geographical and infrastructural characteristics, as well as their views on energy policy, for example nuclear energy plays an important role in Hungary and Slovakia.
He reminded that the parties "did their homework" and built the interconnector connecting their gas pipelines, the capacity of which is also planned to be expanded in the direction of Slovakia.
"Energy supply is a physical and mathematical issue, not an ideological one, and especially not a philosophical one," he said, stating that the government will continue to do everything in the future to ensure the supply of natural gas, and does not support proposals that endanger this.
Source and image: Felvidek.ma
