FM: Hungary and Serbia affirm their strategic energy cooperation

Minister Szijjártó said both countries aimed to ensure a secure energy supply at competitive prices, while Hungary wanted to maintain its regulated household utilities price scheme.

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary and Serbia have affirmed their strategic cooperation in the area of energy.

Speaking after a bilateral summit in Belgrade on Saturday, Minister Szijjártó said both countries aimed to ensure a secure energy supply at competitive prices, while Hungary wanted to maintain its regulated household utilities price scheme.

He pointed to recent decisions that had weighed on energy supply in the region, such as new sanctions introduced by the “failed Democratic administration” in the U.S., the halt of gas transit deliveries via Ukraine and attacks on the TurkStream gas pipeline. He added that Hungary’s insistence on the construction of the TurkStream had contributed to the country’s energy security as had the establishment of interconnectors with the gas networks of six of its seven neighbours.

Serbia also gets most of its gas through the TurkStream and the secure and reliable operation of the pipeline is in the common interest of both countries, he said, highlighting the importance of strategic cooperation between Hungary and Serbia based on mutual respect and trust.

He noted that an agreement had been reached to accelerate joint energy infrastructure investments and said the capacity of an interconnector between the two countries’ electricity grids would be doubled by 2027 or 2028. A crude pipeline between Serbia and Hungary could be completed in around three years, he added. He welcomed the start of the operation of a joint Hungarian-Serbian-Slovenian power exchange.