Russian-Hungarian Summit: Gazprom, Rosatom leaders held talks in Budapest

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó met leaders of Russia’s national gas company Gazprom and Russian nuclear energy giant Rosatom for talks in Budapest on Wednesday.

After talks with Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller, Szijjarto said that Hungary’s gas supplies had “never been this secure” and added that “for the first time in history Hungary’s gas storage facilities are full”.

According to a foreign ministry statement, Hungary now has 6.4 billion cubic metres of natural gas in reserve, which puts the country in a position to “start negotiations about supplies for the next heating season already”.

Szijjarto said he had agreed with Miller on resuming gas supplies next April, adding that Hungary would buy another 2 billion cubic metres of gas from Gazprom, the same amount as this year.

During talks with Rosatom leader Alexei Likhachev, Szijjarto said that obtaining a technical permit in October was a milestone in the upgrade of the Paks nuclear plant, and added that the next important step would be submitting an application for the implementation permit before June 30 next year.

Szijjarto said that the upgrade project offers “an important platform for East-West business cooperation”. He noted that the project would be implemented by Russian, US, German, French, and Hungarian companies and could ensure sufficient energy for a competitive national economy.

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Source: mti