A more than three kilometre long distributor road built with Hungarian and Slovenian financing and co-funded by the European Union, and a related border crossing point were inaugurated on Tuesday in Rédics, Zala County and Göntérháza (Genterovci), Slovenia.
At the inauguration ceremony of the 3.2 kilometre long road constructed from EUR 1.7 million (HUF 500 million), Minister of State Levente Magyar from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recalled that in January the Hungarian and Slovenian Prime Ministers had inaugurated a similar road facilitating border crossing between Felsőszölnök and Kétvölgy.
According to the discussions held at that time, the heads of government agreed on establishing six new road connections, and following Tuesday’s inauguration of the new connection between Rédics and Göntérháza, there is a good chance that the construction of two further roads may begin in joint investment next year.
The Minister of State pointed out that before the fall of the Iron Curtain local residents experienced conditions that were perhaps even harsher than along the country’s eastern borders, because people were hermetically sealed from each other by the border.
Together with road construction projects commencing next year, there will be a satisfactory number of border crossing facilities between the two countries, the Secretary of State noted.
Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia Stanislav Rascan stated that while there were friendly and good neighbourly relations between the two countries in all respects, there was still room for development within the fields of energy, transport infrastructure, science, education and culture. Hungary is Slovenia’s 6th most important economic partner; trade turnover between the two countries was EUR 1.7 billion (approximately HUF 500 billion) last year. Hungarian enterprises carried out investments worth EUR 55 million in Slovenia last year, while Slovenian companies invested EUR 20 million in Hungary during the same period.
There is still plenty of opportunity for enhancing relations, for example a Hungarian financial institution was also interested in the privatisation of the Slovenian Nova Kreditna Banka, Mr. Rascan noted. Mayor of Lendava Anton Balazek said that the 1.4 kilometre Slovenian road section had been constructed at a cost of more than EUR 500 thousand.
The European Union supported the work with EUR 350 000, the Slovenian state contributed EUR 50 000 and the County Government Office of Lendva provided EUR 110 000. Following the ceremonial inauguration of the new road and border crossing station, foreign policy leaders from the two countries inspected the potential path of the 1.5 kilometre long road planned near Bödeháza and Zsitkóc (Zitkovci).
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
