Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest on Sunday (20/8/2023). The two discussed energy security and Sweden’s membership in NATO.
Hungary is still yet to vote on agreeing to the Nordic country’s entry into NATO, having allied itself with Turkey which long blocked Sweden’s membership before lifting its veto last month.
The two countries have also discussed strengthening their energy cooperation, given that Hungary already receives most of its gas through the TurkStream pipeline, which transports Russian gas across the Black Sea.
Budapest and Ankara will also deepen their “strategic partnership”, an announcement that will be made official during Erdogan’s visit scheduled for December.
The Turkish leader’s visit was part of a series of diplomatic meetings organized by Orban to mark the World Athletics Championships, which opened on Saturday.
Among other dignitaries greeted on Sunday were the presidents of Serbia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan as well as President Serdar Berdymukhamedov of Turkmenistan.
Szijjarto welcomed “close cooperation between Central Asia and the Western Balkans”, which he said was very important given the energy crisis.
Serbia has promised to “provide the necessary transit capacity” if Ukraine decides to stop allowing Russian gas to pass through its territory for transport to European countries.
An agreement was also signed with Azerbaijan to store 50 million cubic meters of gas on Hungarian soil.
Hungary, the only European Union member state to maintain ties with the Kremlin since the start of the Ukraine war, has in recent years pursued a policy of opening up to the East, not only to Russia, but also to Central Asia and China.
Viktor Orban is happy to welcome his “political friend” to the weekend. As for Hungary’s Western partners, who regularly accuse it of authoritarianism, it was absent.
Source : CNBC
