Hungary becomes diplomatic capital of Central Asia for the weekend
PM meets Central Asian "elite”
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has met with several former and current heads of state and government, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, and President Milorad Dodik of the Bosnian Serb Republic (who recently presented the highest state decoration to Russian President Vladimir Putin), Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (currently under indictment for perjury), President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow, and Rustam Minnikhanov, leader of Tatarstan. He also held diplomatic talks with most of them on Sunday.
Erdoğan to visit Budapest again in December
Hungary and Turkey have already had a strategic partnership, and the parties have already agreed to upgrade this level of cooperation to a key strategic partnership, said Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Sunday
Accordingly, the Turkish President will visit Budapest again on 18 December, when a meeting of the High-Level Strategic Council will be held, during which an agreement on the establishment of a key strategic partnership and mutual emergency assistance will be signed, he said.
"This clearly demonstrates the commitment between the two countries to enhance cooperation, and on the other hand that both countries benefit a great deal from this bilateral cooperation", he said. Szijjártó stressed that unfortunately, several events have occurred recently that make agreements such as this timely and justified.
Turkey plays an extremely important and even indispensable role in the security of energy supply of Hungary, as a significant part of natural gas supplies to Hungary come through Turkey via the Turkish Stream gas pipeline,
he pointed out.
He explained that Turkey's transit role will be further strengthened with the entry into force of the Hungarian-Azeri gas supply agreement and the start of Turkmenistan's exports to Europe.
The minister also reported that the ratification of Sweden's membership of NATO was also discussed and recalled that both the Hungarian and Turkish parliaments are on summer recess, so the issue could be on the agenda again in the autumn.
"We remain in constant consultation and contact and will keep each other informed of the status and progress of national parliamentary procedures," he said.
The two countries have not ratified Sweden’s accession to NATO for over a year now. The traditionally neutral country, along with Finland, has asked to join the transatlantic defence alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Turkey has been holding off the ratification of Sweden's NATO membership, accusing the Scandinavian country of being too soft toward groups that Ankara regards as threats to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.
Orbán’s ‘explanation’ has been more opaque, with him essentially saying relations first must improve.
Orbán, who has an iron grip on his ruling Fidesz party, said in March there was dissent within party's parliamentary caucus regarding the ratification, as Finland, and Sweden in particular, have been
spreading blatant lies about Hungary, about the rule of law in Hungary, about democracy, about life here.
The political relations between Hungary and Sweden are awfully wrong. We don’t want to import conflicts into NATO,
Orbán said in May.
Szijjártó also underlined that energy cooperation will also take on a new dimension with the start of gas supplies from Turkey, following the finalisation of the agreement between MVM and Botas on the purchase of 275 million cubic metres of gas next year.
MVM to buy gas from Turkish operator
Hungary’s state-owned energy distributor MVM has agreed to purchase 275 million cubic metres of natural gas from Botas, the Turkish natural gas wholesaler and transmission system operator.
The details of the gas trading contract will be finalised by the end of this year, and the companies will continue to negotiate.
Gas consumption in Hungary was 11 billion m3 in 2021 and 9.1 billion m3 in 2022, meaning that Turkish gas purchases represent only a fraction of total annual gas consumption, but the diversification of sources is positive news.
This 275 million cubic meters of natural gas will contribute to the security of energy supply of the country and will create a physical gas transport link between Turkey and Hungary,
said Szijjártó.
"We will also take this further, as a decision has now been taken to start negotiations on the storage of Turkish natural gas in Hungary," he added.
Other agreements
Orbán agreed with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev that this year, 100 million cubic metres of gas is coming from Azerbaijan, Bertalan Havasi, the PM’s press chief, announced. An agreement has also been reached on the consignment storage of 50 million cubic metres in Hungary, meaning that an actual physical natural gas supply relationship has been established between the two countries, the parties concluded.
After a meeting with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, they established that the hopes attached to the opening of the Budapest Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic and the commencement of the issuance of visas at the Hungarian Embassy in Bishkek had proved to be justified.
Orbán also received Turkmenistan’s head of state Serdar Berdimuhamedow, and the parties established that there were as yet unexplored opportunities in our bilateral relations, including cooperation in the fields of health care, the pharmaceutical industry, agriculture, the food industry, water management, education and culture.
At the meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the parties reviewed the political and economic relations of Hungary and Serbia, the status of the Western Balkans’ EU integration, opportunities for action against illegal migration, and joint energy and infrastructure projects.
Cover photo: GÁbor Nagy via Portfolio
