Foreign minister hold talks in Belgrade

Belgrade, September 9 (MTI) – Hungary and Serbia are today close strategic allies which was “entirely unimaginable” a few years ago, Hungary’s foreign minister said after talks in Belgrade on Friday.

Péter Szijjártó held talks with Ivica Dacic, his Serbian counterpart, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

Serbia’s EU integration is in Hungary’s national security and economic interest, he said, adding that Hungary will therefore advocate that the EU should conclude Serbia’s accession talks by 2020.

It was agreed that the Serbian foreign minister will pay a visit to Hungary on Oct. 2-3, the first one to an EU member state since his government took office in August.

The two sides agreed that the two countries would hold a joint government session this autumn in south Serbia, and that the Hungarian-Serbian mixed economic committee would hold a regular session before Oct. 15, Szijjártó said.

They also agreed that the migrant crisis needs a European-level response.

“As we must be capable of defending ourselves, Hungary has decided to dispatch another police unit to Serbia’s southern border to help local patrols,” Szijjártó said.

Commenting on the fence Hungary has erected along its southern border, Szijjarto said his Serbian partners told him “they fully understand” that the measure had not been aimed against their country, but to stop illegal entrants.

Addressing economic relations, Szijjártó said that bilateral trade had continuously been improving, noting a volume increase by 5.3 million euros to over 900 million euros in the first half of 2016.

The two countries agreed to jointly bid for EU support for the reconstruction of the Szeged-Subotica (Szabadka)-Baja railway line.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI