Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó of Hungary had a phone conversation with Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović of Serbia on Wednesday, 15 January. He shared details of the bilateral talks in a lengthy post on his Facebook page.
In it, he wrote:
‘The energy crises of recent years, often politically generated, have shown that countries that are not rich in minerals and energy resources need close cooperation to guarantee their energy security. Some actors in global politics can cause serious difficulties with their sanctions and restrictions, and their decisions are clearly made without any regard even to their allies.
This state of affairs increases the importance of energy cooperation with neighbours. Serbia is a strategically important partner for our country. Without Serbia, there is no Hungarian energy security, and vice versa.
Drawing on the lessons of the past weeks, we agreed today in a telephone conversation with Serbian Minister of Energy Dubravka Đedović to accelerate our joint energy security investments, including the establishment of a new electricity interconnector linking the two countries’ networks and the construction of the first joint oil pipeline.’
Serbia and Hungary signed a joint agreement about the construction of a new, 128-kilometre-long (80 miles) long oil pipeline going across both countries in June 2023. The construction project is set to start this year and be finished by 2027, according to the original plans.
The two countries have successfully cooperated with each other in the past, on the issue of border protection. As a result, the migrant camp on the Serbian side of the Serbian–Hungarian border has been cleared by October 2024.
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