“Hungary has a security, political and economic interest in the rapid development of the Western Balkans in view of the fact that Hungary lives in the neighbourhood of the region, and its countries are important trade partners to Budapest and favoured targets for Hungarian capital investments, and the region lies on a route that is under threat from migration”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó emphasised on Tuesday in Podgorica at a joint press conference with Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srđan Darmanović.

“It is in Hungary’s interests for the Western Balkans to develop rapidly and for its countries to join the European Union as soon as possible, and for this reason Budapest is providing all possible assistance to the current Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to enable it to open the last unopened Chapter of its accession negotiations with Montenegro before June, which the Montenegrin party is ready to close.”, he added.

“Hungary believes that enlargement policy is one of the European Union’s most important policies”, he declared. “We are convinced that following the global pandemic nothing will be like it was before either within the global economy or in global politics, and accordingly the European Union must also stand its ground within a new competition, and we are convinced that the position that the European Union occupies within the new world order and its strength will be closely related to the success of enlargement”, the Minister stated.

“The larger the European Union becomes, the more important a role it will be able to play in the new global political order”, he added. “And this requires that instead of losing the Western Balkans, the European Union is able to integrate it”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

“The future economic development of the Western Balkan countries will also be able to significantly facilitate the rebooting of the Hungarian economy”, the Minister underlined. “Montenegro and Hungary may not be neighbouring countries, but their economies are closely linked; for instance, the two countries realised 100 million euros in trade flow last year”, he continued.

“Montenegro is an extremely significant target for Hungarian pharmaceutical industry exports, a major proportion of Hungary’s aluminium imports come from Montenegro, and Hungary’s largest bank, OTP, is also the largest bank in Montenegro, and OTP’s subsidiary in Montenegro is the state’s and the private sector’s largest creditor”, the Minister detailed. “A situation has arisen in which a Hungarian bank that is playing a major role in the rebooting of the Hungarian economy is also playing an important role in the rebooting of the Montenegrin economy”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade added.
Mr. Szijjártó expressed his appreciation of the fact that Montenegro has stood its ground in several difficult situations recently, for instance with relation to protecting against illegal migration. He drew attention to the fact that Montenegro had also deployed its military to protect the border, which Hungary highly appreciates in view of the fact that it continues to view illegal migration as a major danger against which we must continue to act in future.
In addition, Montenegro has stood its ground in an exemplary manner in the fight against the global pandemic, and this is something Hungary would like to help with, and accordingly on Tuesday it presented the country with fifty thousand face masks and 2500 sets of protective clothing.

Montenegrin Foreign Minister Srđan Darmanović thanked Hungary for its assistance. “The epidemic has caused major changes to the economy, but has proven that cooperation and helping each other can mean progress for both parties”, he emphasised. The Minister also thanked Hungary for always having supported Montenegro’s European Union and NATO integration. “We expect Montenegro to be a coronavirus-free zone by the summer season, and it will also be awaiting Hungarian tourists”, he highlighted.
During his visit to Podgorica on Tuesday, Mr. Szijjártó also met with Montenegrin Head of State Milo Đukanović.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)