“Hungarian-Slovakian political and economic relations have achieved a never before seen high level”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Minister of State for Agricultural Diplomacy, Levente Magyar said at a press conference following a session of the Hungarian-Slovakian Joint Economic Committee.

“Energy cooperation between the two countries is remarkable; they were the first in Central Europe to establish the interconnection of their high capacity natural gas networks and have similarly ambitious plans for the future”, he explained.

The Minister of State also highlighted the development of transport relations as an important area. “Slovakia and Hungary have a joint border of almost 700 kilometres, one of the longest in Europe, and it is vital from the perspective of enterprises that this joint border is traversable with the same ease and regularity as in Western Europe”, he said.

“As the most spectacular element in the uniquely ambitious development plan, a new bridge across the Danube will soon be constructed linking Komárom and Komárno. A new motorway link between Miskolc and Kassa (Košice) will also be constructed and the missing Hungarian stretch of the Györ-Bratislava motorway will also be completed within a few years”, Mr. Magyar continued.

“In addition to these major development projects a dozen bridges, ferry routes and motor vehicle border crossing points will also be established within the next few years, for which the financing is already available”, he said.

The Minister of State also told the press that some one hundred Hungarian and Slovakian enterprises with an interest in bilateral relations took part in the business forum held on Thursday, adding that he and his Slovakian colleague have set as their goal that a similar economic forum should be held every year with the participation of a thousand, but at least several hundred, companies.

State Secretary Vojtech Ferencz from the Slovak Ministry of Economy recalled that during their meeting on Monday the Presidents of Hungary and Slovakia had mutually determined that relations between the two countries have achieved an exceptionally high level.

During the press conference, Levente Magyar and Vojtech Ferencz signed the minutes of the session of the Hungarian-Slovakian Joint Economic Committee.

(MTI)