“Cooperation between Hungary and Croatia is extremely important to both nations, but Budapest often feels that it does not meet with overly great enthusiasm on the part of Croatian political leaders when it comes to the development of bilateral relations”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday in Zagreb.
The politician arrived in the Croatian capital to attend an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, and while in Zagreb he concluded a cooperation agreement on the teaching of Hungarian language and culture with the university of Rijeka, in addition to holding several bilateral meetings.
“Croatia is an extremely important partner to Hungary, but one is justified in feeling that we could profit to a much greater extent from cooperation with Croatia”, he highlighted. “Last year, we broke the bilateral trade flow record with a performance of over 2.5 billion euros; more than 640 thousand Hungarians went on holiday to Croatia, and in view of the fact that Croatia is the number one destination for Hungarian foreign investments, it is clear that politics should also pick up the pace”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “If the Croatian government were a little more active in future, both the Hungarian and Croatian economies, as well as the Hungarian and Croatian people, could profit to a much greater extent from our system of bilateral relations”, he underlined.
Mr. Szijjártó indicated that two steps forward had been taken during the course of the day. “The University of Rijeka is among Croatia’s three top universities, and from September Hungarian language and culture courses will be launched with the participation of Hungarian lecturers. Accordingly, a total of three Croatian universities will in future be offering Hungarian language and Hungarian culture courses”, he stated. “Some 125 university students are already studying at Hungarian departments in Zagreb and Osijek (Eszék)”, he added.
“Rijeka (Fiume) plays an important role in Hungarian-Croatian relations. MOL Plc. recently decided on a huge, 540-million-euro refinery modernisation investment in the city, and in view of the fact that the region is visited by many Hungarians, Hungary will soon be requesting permission from the Croatian government to operate a consular office in the city, where a Hungarian House also began operations recently”, he added.
According to the Minister, it is also extremely important to improve road links between the two countries. “We broke the previous trade record and Hungarian capital is coming to Croatia despite the fact that there are only seven legal border crossing points along our 350-kilometre common border”, he emphasised. “The average distance between border crossing points is 50 kilometres, while in Western Europe it is 2.5-3 kilometres. It is clear that this is an uncompetitive and untenable state of affairs”, he pointed out. As he explained, Hungary has already asked the Croatian government to increase the number of border crossing points on several occasions, and we have now agreed that Hungary will be constructing the M6 motorway and Croatia will complete the dual carriageway leading to the border. The project must be completed by 2023. Two minor border crossing points will also be opened in the near future, in addition to which the planning of the Mura Bridge at Murakeresztúr will also begin. Furthermore, rail links are also being developed along the Budapest-Osijek and Budapest-Split railway lines.
“As a result, we will be achieving a host of improvements for the Hungarian economy and the Hungarian people be enabling the border to be crossed more often and more easily”, Mr. Szijjártó explained. In the afternoon, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and Croatian Minister for Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković concluded an agreement on the development of cross-border infrastructure.
(MTI)
