PM Orbán in talks with the United Arab Emirates in Belgrade: Budapest Airport on the menu? – UPDATED
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Friday travelled to Serbia to attend a summit of Serbian, Hungarian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) leaders, the PM’s press chief told MTI.
Orbán is scheduled to meet Aleksandar Vucic, the Serbian president, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, as part of the trilateral talks in Belgrade, Bertalan Havasi said. Orbán and Vucic will then hold bilateral talks after the meeting that will focus mainly on economic and energy issues, he added.
Before, media said that the Hungarian government would like to nationalize Budapest Airport with the help of Middle Eastern investors. News outlets talked about Qatar investors. But in the end, it might be UAE business people who will join the business.
Read also:
Orbán: Serbia, Hungary cooperation close, succesful
Serbia and Hungary maintain close political and economic cooperation, and their economic cooperation is particularly successful, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Belgrade on Friday. “One of us is in the European Union as a member while the other is not, but this is not a disadvantage, rather an opportunity,” Orbán told reporters together with Aleksandar Vucic, the Serbian president.
Orbán and Vucic held talks with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, in the Serbian capital. The aim of the trilateral talks was to present to the sheikh the economic cooperation of Hungary and Serbia, Orbán said, adding that their meeting served as an opportunity to explore cooperation possibilities. This was the first opportunity for him to participate at such a trilateral talk, he said.
Orbán said he was convinced that he and Vucic could effectively represent their two countries’ joint perspective before third countries and investors that are interested in the region. The Hungarian prime minister said the agenda of his meeting with Vucic later in the day includes migration, issues around Brussels, EU enlargement and related deadlines. He stated that Hungary did not support any kind of sanctions against any country and saw dialogue as the only solution to conflicts.