During President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Monday visit to Budapest, 17 bilateral agreements were signed, including one on strategic partnership. “Turks and Hungarians will win together in the 21st century,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a joint press conference.
“Hungarians lost the previous century. The plan is not to lose the 21st century but to win it and seek allies,” said Orbán after signing the strategic partnership, as quoted by the MTI agency.
“We wish to further strengthen our ties in areas such as defence and energy, where we already have fruitful cooperation,” Erdogan said, adding that the two countries aimed to increase their trade volume to $6bn from $4bn currently.
Earlier, Erdogan met with President Katalin Novák, who stated, “Turkey is a key country for Hungary in terms of stopping illegal migration and ensuring energy security, but it also plays an important role in the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East.”
The Turkish president was then received by Orbán, with Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also participating in the talks.
“Hungary and Turkey will establish broader energy cooperation than ever before,” said the Hungarian Foreign Minister. He referred to the gas supply agreement signed in August between the Turkish state energy company BOTAS and the Hungarian company MVM, which also involves cooperation in utilizing Turkish LNG infrastructure.
Turkey’s role will be significantly strengthened when it becomes a transit and source country next year – the politician added, referring to gas supplies. “Cooperation will also be established in storage, infrastructure development, and the use of renewable energy sources such as hydrogen,” added Szijjártó.
Among the signed agreements are cooperation agreements in the defense industry and an agreement between public media in both countries.
This is Erdoğan’s second visit to Hungary this year; he previously visited Budapest on August 20 in connection with St. Stephen’s Day. The Turkish leader met with President Novák three times this year.
Turkey and Hungary are the last two countries that have not yet ratified Sweden’s accession to NATO. After Erdoğan’s recent visit to Budapest, Szijjártó said that the parliaments of the two countries would return to this issue in the fall.
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On Monday, the challenges facing the NATO alliance were discussed in talks between Erdoğan and Novák, but it was not revealed whether Sweden was also discussed.
The Budapest government repeats that Hungary will not be the last country to vote for Sweden’s accession, but the parliament has not yet considered the government’s proposal, which has been waiting for a vote since mid-2022.
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