Hungary, Slovakia lay cornerstone of new bridge on River Ipoly

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Igor Matovic on Wednesday laid the cornerstone of a new bridge spanning the River Ipoly between Dregelypalank and Ipelske Predmostie (Ipolyhídvég).

Addressing the ceremony, Szijjártó said the 2.6 billion forint (EUR 7.0m) bridge will be open to both passenger and freight traffic. Szijjártó noted that the 50m bridge will spare travellers a 20km detour.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the government interpreted the outcome of the April 3 general election, in which the incumbent parties won a fourth successive supermajority, as a reinforcement of Hungary’s foreign policy, which he said was based on building mutually beneficial relations with neighbouring countries.

“We have put in a lot of effort over the last twelve years into building shared success stories with our neighbours,”

Szijjártó said. “The more links we have between us, the better we know each other, and the greater interest we have in each other’s success, the less reason we will have for disagreements or disputes.”

Whereas in 2010 Hungary and Slovakia had just 23 public road links between their borders, they now have 35, and six more will be established by the end of next year, Szijjártó said.