“Serbia is Hungary’s number one economic and commercial partner in the Western Balkan region; last year Hungarian-Serbian trade flow increased by 4 percent to 1.8 billion euros”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Friday in Budapest at a press conference following a meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian Joint Economic Committee.
Political and economic relations between the two countries have never been as good as they are now. Hungary is supporting Serbia’s efforts towards European integration; this is in Hungary’s economic interests as well as being in the interests of regional security, he stressed.
At the press conference, Serbian Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snežana Bogosavljević-Bošković highlighted the fact that an agreement had been reached on the topics discussed during the meeting of the Joint Economic Committee and the intention of the parties is to tighten and develop economic relations between the two countries.
Mr. Szijjártó spoke with recognition about Serbian government measures introduced in the interests of the Hungarian minority and declared that the Hungarian ethnic community living in Vojvodina was a bridge that linked the two countries. The Hungarian Foreign Minister also announced that Eximbank had opened a credit line of 61 million euros to facilitate cooperation between Hungarian and Serbian enterprises.
According to Mr. Szijjártó, the Government is acting to help Hungarian companies achieve success on the Serbian market, in the interests of which Eximbank has opened an office in Belgrade, in addition to which further Trading House offices are now operating in Belgrade, Subotica and Novi Sad, and a new foreign trade attaché has begun work at the Hungarian Consulate General in Subotica.
The Foreign Minister stressed that it is vital from both an economic and a national security perspective to both the Western Balkans and Central Europe that North-South infrastructure develop. Preparations for the development of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line are continuing and the Government has submitted the related Hungarian-Chinese inter-governmental agreement to the European Commission. It will be put before parliament for ratification at the end of March and it is hoped that progress on financing will also be made at Monday’s session of the Hungarian-Chinese Joint Economic Committee.
At the meeting of the Hungarian-Serbian Joint Economic Committee, an agreement was reached on the opening of two new border crossing points between Bácsszentgyőrgy and Rastina, and between Köbekháza and Rabe, as well as on the lengthening of border opening times. The first phase of planning for the Szeged-Subotica-Baja railway line is complete, the approved construction plan is ready and following the second stage of the project rail transport along this route will hopefully also begin as soon as possible, Mr. Szijjártó said.
Within the field of energy, the parties agreed to explore and if possible extract cross-border hydrocarbon stocks with the involvement of MOL from the Hungarian side. Additionally, Hungarian electricity supplier will appear on the soon to be launched Serbian energy exchange and Serbia will be allowed to use Hungarian gas reservoirs for strategic gas storage within the framework allowed for by international law in the interests of decreasing Serbian energy dependency, the Foreign Minister told reporters, adding that the two countries’ flood warning systems would also be connected to improve the efficiency of flood protection activities.
Ms. Bogosavljević-Bošković expressed her appreciation for the regular high-level meetings between the leaders and ministers of the two countries, and that this is having a positive effect on economic relations.
The Serbian Minister stressed that it is important to provide enterprises with incentives to make joint investments and Serbia is most grateful to the Hungarian companies who have invested some 470 thousand euros in the Serbian economy in recent years.
Ms. Bogosavljević-Bošković pointed out that the fact that increase in the ratio of agricultural products in bilateral trade was a result of the existing excellent cooperation within the fields of agriculture and the food industry, and said she thought it was possible that the two countries could appear jointly on international markets with these products.
In reply to a question from the press, Mr. Szijjártó said that an inter-governmental agreement had been signed with relation to the Budapest-Belgrade railways line project and Hungarian state railway company MÁV was continuously working on preparations for the project and had already agreed with its Serbian partners on details relating to border crossing. The further schedule depends on whether an agreement is concluded with the Chinese Government on financing the project and the level of interest on the Chinese loan. Hungary will only accept a level of interest that achieves a positive return for the Hungarian economy, taking into account the ratio of participation by Hungarian enterprises, the Foreign Minister emphasised.
During the press conference, Péter Szijjártó and Snežana Bogosavljević-Bošković signed the minutes of the session of the Hungarian-Serbian Joint Economic Committee.
Minister of State István Lepsényi from the Ministry of National Economy and Serbian State Secretary for Health Ferenc Vicko signed a declaration of intent on developing cooperation between the health industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
