“This week we will be attempting to increase the number of border crossing points open to Hungarian and Slovakian citizens and freight traffic along the Hungarian-Slovakian border”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Monday.

“It is in such great trouble and difficult situations as the current one that it becomes truly apparent to what extent we depend on each other with neighbouring countries”, the politician explained. “This is particularly true in the case of Slovakia, which is Hungary’s third most significant trade partner, and we are placed fourth in Slovakia’s similar rankings”, he said.

“Relations between communities living on either side of the border are particularly close; there are hundreds of thousands of Hungarians and Slovakians living near the border, and the controlled permeability of the border, under suitable regulations, is vital to them”, Mr. Szijjártó stated. “For this reason, we have come to an agreement with the Slovakian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy concerning the fact that Hungarian and Slovakian citizens may once again use the Somoskőújfalu border crossing point from Tuesday. This is extremely important from the perspective of enabling Hungarian and Slovakian citizens who work on the other side of the border to do their jobs”, he explained.

“It is also clear that the free flow of goods across the border between the two countries fundamentally determines the security of supply in both countries, and accordingly we have concluded a general agreement on the fact that during the course of this week we will be attempting increase the number of open border crossing points between the two countries from the current eight, or nine beginning on Tuesday, in order to guarantee the security of supply of both countries and ensure that goods are able to cross the border with the shortest possible delay”, Mr. Szijjártó emphasised.

“This joint bill is expected to be drawn up by the middle of this week, and hopefully further border crossing points will be reopened for the use of Hungarian and Slovakian citizens and freight transport during the second half of the week”, he stated.

“We have also agreed that we will not be suspending the construction of the new bridge between Komárom and Komárno, but will be doing everything possible to ensure that the new bridge is opened before the end of this year”, the Foreign Minister also announced. “This will also represent a major improvement along the Hungarian-Slovakian border”, he added.

“An agreement was also reached on the further reinforcement of energy cooperation”, he stated. “Work is underway at two points to connect the two countries’ high-voltage electricity networks; both sets of construction works will continue, and accordingly we will be able to connect the high-voltage electricity networks of the two countries at two points by the end of this year”, he pointed out.

“We are also working to further increase the capacity of the gas interconnector linking the natural gas pipelines of Hungary and Slovakia, in the interests of further improving the security of our countries’ natural gas supply”, he added.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)