Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó held bilateral talks on security and energy policy with three other EU foreign ministers at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.
Mr. Szijjártó and Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics agreed that security must currently be placed first in Europe and that “the primary goal of European politics must be to guarantee the safety of the people of Europe”.
The two ministers also agreed on the importance of protecting the European Union’s external borders. Latvia has decided to build a fence along its joint border with Russia. Furthermore, both foreign ministers said they regard the compulsory resettlement quota as unacceptable.
Latvia is supporting Hungary’s application for membership of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), while Mr. Szijjártó announced that as a sign of solidarity 150 Hungarian soldiers will be stationed in the Baltic between July and September of next year in addition to which Hungarian fighter jets will be protecting Baltic airspace again in 2019.
Mr. Szijjártó concluded an agreement on important cross-border infrastructure development projects with Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec. “We will be opening two new border crossing stations using EU funding, in addition to which we will be connecting our electricity networks and will be continuing negotiations on the development of the port of Koper and its connecting road”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
Slovenia will be supporting Hungary’s application for membership of the HRC and has issued a resolution in support of the expansion of the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. The Hungarian Foreign Minister and his Romanian counterpart Lazar Comanescu agreed to continue the step-by-step process of developing bilateral relations without ignoring existing issues, in view of the fact that Romania continues to be the second largest export market for Hungarian enterprises.
The two ministers agreed that energy security remains one of the most pressing issues in Central Europe and accordingly Hungary will be accelerating projects aimed at connecting the Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian gas supply systems, with relation to which the countries’ energy ministers will be signing an agreement in Budapest on Friday.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
