“Hungarian-Serbian political, economic, trade and investment relations have never before been so strong”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday in Budapest at a press conference following the tenth session of the Hungarian-Serbian Joint Economic Committee.
“Serbia is Hungary’s number one partner in the Western Balkans, and the foundation for the friendly relationship between the two countries is mutual respect”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised. “Last year, bilateral trade flow exceeded 2.5 billion euros, and so far this year bilateral trade flow has already exceeded the performance for the whole of last year by 4 percent”, he added. Serbian Economy Minister Goran Knežević highlighted: “Hungary is Serbia’s sixth most important foreign trade partner and is the 13th largest investor in Serbia”.
Following the press conference, Mr. Szijjártó presented Goran Knežević with the Commander’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit. “Hungarian enterprises have achieved the second most important place within two important sectors in Serbia. MOL has realised over 110 million euros of investment in Serbia, operates 62 petrol stations, and is the second largest company on the Serbian fuel trade market, in addition to which the company recently inaugurated a new storage facility in Sremski Karlovci (Karlóca). OTP Bank has advanced to become the second largest company of the Serbian banking sector after acquiring a bank in Vojvodina and the Serbian subsidiary of Société Générale”, Mr. Szijjártó told the press. “The Hungarian government has provided 46 billion forints (EUR 137.5 million) to Hungarian farmers and enterprises in Vojvodina within the framework of the Vojvodina Economic Development Programme, funding 12,591 tender applications and enabling the realisation of 86 billion forints (EUR 257 million) of investment in Vojvodina”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated. “Eximbank has opened a 110-million-euro credit line to finance cooperation between enterprises from the two countries, and 50 million euros of this budget has already been spent on the development of the Szeged-Subotica railway line”, he said.
From among the latest measures, the Minister mentioned that that the border crossing stations at Röszke will be technologically refurbished, and plans include making the border crossing station at Hercegszántó suitable for handling freight traffic. Based on the decision of the two countries’ interior ministers, systematic Schengen border controls will be suspended at the southern border crossing stations during the holiday period between 15 December and 15 January, and will be replaced by random monitoring. “In addition, the Hungarian government has earmarked a budget of 10 billion forints (EUR 30 million) to fund Hungarian enterprises that are realising investments in Southern Serbia”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. “The contract relating to the refurbishment of the Szeged-Subotica railway line will be concluded before the end of this year”, he indicated. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade also spoke about the fact that Hungary has received permission to relaunch exports of pork and live pigs to Serbia, which had previously been suspended in view of the swine fever epidemic, and only a few technical details remain to be agreed upon.
“Serbia is our only southern neighbour that has realised the technological development projects required to enable Hungary to also procure its natural gas requirements from the south. 400 kilometres of gas pipeline are required in Serbia to enable Hungary to purchase natural gas from 2021 via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, and the Serbians have already constructed half of this”, the Minister pointed out. He noted that 15 Hungarian police officers are assisting their Serbian colleagues with border security duties because of tasks relating to migration. In reply to questions from the press, Mr. Szijjártó underlined: “Hungary is a committed supporter of Serbia’s EU accession process, and Serbia’s accession to the European Union is not only in the interests of the two countries, but also in the interests of Europe”.
(MTI)
