Both countries benefit greatly from bilateral relations, it was revealed during the visit of the Turkish head of state to Hungary, where the energy cooperation between the two countries and the ratification of Sweden's NATO accession were also on the agenda at the meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Hungary and Turkey have had a strategic partnership up to now, and the parties have already agreed that the level of this cooperation will be raised to a priority strategic partnership - informed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, adding: accordingly, the Turkish president will visit Budapest again on December 18, when they will hold a meeting of the high-level strategic council, during which they will sign the agreement on the establishment of a priority strategic partnership and mutual assistance in emergency situations, he said.
"This clearly shows the commitment between the two countries to increase cooperation, and on the other hand, that both countries benefit a lot from this bilateral cooperation," he stated.
Péter Szijjártó emphasized that, unfortunately, several events have occurred in the past period that make this type of agreement relevant and justified.
"Turkey plays an extremely important, even indispensable, role in the security of Hungary's energy supply, since a significant part of the natural gas deliveries to Hungary comes through Turkey, via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline," he pointed out.
He then explained that Turkey's transit role will further strengthen with the entry into force of the Hungarian-Azerbaijani natural gas transport contract, as well as with the start of Turkmenistan's exports to Europe.
He underlined that energy cooperation will also enter a new dimension by the fact that natural gas deliveries can also start from Turkey, after the agreement between MVM and Botas on the purchase of 275 million cubic meters of gas next year was finalized.
"This 275 million cubic meters of natural gas will contribute to the security of the country's energy supply and create the physical natural gas transport connection between Turkey and Hungary," he said. "We will move on from this as well, as a decision has now been made that we will also start negotiations on the contract storage of Turkish natural gas in Hungary," he added.
Finally, the minister also reported that the ratification of Sweden's NATO membership was discussed, and reminded him that both the Hungarian and Turkish parliaments are on summer break, so the issue of putting it on the agenda may become relevant again in the fall.
"We remained in constant consultation and contact, informing each other about the status and processes of the national parliamentary procedures," he said.
MTI
