Hungary, Slovakia foreign ministers discuss infrastructure, energy cooperation

Budapest (MTI) – Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto discussed bilateral economic and infrastructure development projects with Miroslav Lajcak, his Slovak counterpart, in Budapest on Monday.

Hungary and Slovakia will open 21 new border crossing points under a project in the autumn, Szijjarto told a press conference after the talks.

The two countries are preparing several cross-border infrastructure development projects that include launching a new ferry service on the Danube, he said.

Another project is the construction of a new bridge linking Hungary’s Komarom with Slovakia’s Komarno (Revkomarom), for which the two countries have submitted a joint bid for EU funding, Szijjarto said.

Concerning energy issues, he noted that a Hungarian-Slovak gas pipeline is still being tested and the two countries’ governments are making all possible efforts to put the interconnector into a commercial operation as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, the two governments have started drafting plans on linking the Hungarian and Slovak electricity networks, he added.

Lajcak described bilateral relations as good and cooperation between the two countries as pragmatic.

He said they identified cross-border infrastructure development projects that should be given preference.

The two foreign ministers acknowledged differing views on certain issues but said none exist that cannot be discussed calmly.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters