“Hungarian-Croatian relations are excellent, but they could be even better”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference on Friday in Budapest following talks with Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman.
“Bilateral cooperation is creating a host of advantages, but it could be creating even more”, the politician stated. “Croatia is the number one target for Hungarian investments. Most recently, MOL announced a 540-million-euro investment at the Rijeka refinery, and OTP has the fourth largest share on the Croatian baking market. Last year, we achieved our highest ever level of bilateral trade flow at 2.5 billion euros. Hungarian tourism traffic has also increased: 644 thousand Hungarian tourists travelled to the neighbouring state in 2019”, Mr. Szijjártó told the press. “The Hungarian government provided 1.8 billion forints (EUR 5.3 million) in funding to 527 Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises in the Drávaszög region last year, leading to 2.7 billion forints (EUR 8 million) in investment projects in the region”, he said.
“Hungary and Croatia agree on the need for Western Balkan enlargement, and also with relation to the fact that illegal immigration must be stopped”, Mr. Szijjártó declared. He said that in his opinion Thursday’s fighting in Syria could easily led to another migration emergency. “Turkey’s position according to which, if it cannot create the conditions in Syria to send back the migrants, then they will have to let them through towards Europe, is gaining strength”, he added. “Hungary will protect its borders against any and all pressure”, he declared.
“There are a few issues, however, with relation to which cooperation with Croatia could be better”, the Hungarian Minister said. “Hungary would still like a comprehensive agreement to come about concerning the diversification of natural gas sources. It maintains its proposal with relation to connecting the natural gas networks of the two countries and negotiating the procurement of gas via the future Croatian LNG terminal. Hungary is maintaining its purchase offer with relation to the minority ownership of the future terminal”, he emphasised. “The Hungarian government is calling for the introduction of a day of Hungarian-Croatian friendship, and for there to be many more legal travel opportunities between the two countries; for new border crossing points to be built and for new transport links to be developed”, he said.
Gordan Grlić Radman declared that political cooperation is good, but economic cooperation could be further improved. He pointed out that he was in Budapest two months ago, which also proves the quality of the relationship, which already spans several hundred years. “The situation of the Croatian minority in Hungary and the Hungarian minority in Croatia could, however, be improved”, he said. The Minister pointed out that Croatia is the current President of the Council of the European Union, one of the priorities of which is to better link the two nations. “Hungary provided major assistance towards enabling the successful completion of Croatia’s EU accession negotiations in the first half of 2011”, Mr. Grlić Radman stated. The Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs declared that both states have an interest in a larger EU budget. “We agree that we must fight in the interests of a new asylum policy, must fight against illegal immigration, and must distinguish between true refugees and the illegal migrants transported by people smugglers”, he stated. “We are also at a consensus with relation to the need for further EU enlargement”, Gordan Grlić Radman confirmed.
(MTI)
