Szijjarto: ‘joint success stories’ must be built with Slovakia

Szijjarto said in an interview with Danubia Television after the recent opening of a new bridge at Ipolydamasd that Slovakia is Hungary’s second most important trade partner, with bilateral trade reaching a record 17 billion euros last year.

Citing examples of Slovak-Hungarian cooperation, he said Slovaks had helped Hungary protect its southern borders, the two countries had stood up jointly against mandatory resettlement quotas, they had connected their electricity networks and also had a gas pipeline connection. Additionally, Hungarian oil company Mol’s Slovak subsidiary is one of the largest companies in Slovakia, he said.

Such success stories are “able to create the basis for mutual trust” in order to discuss difficult issues, he added.

Commenting on the approaching parliamentary elections in Slovakia, he said the government was rooting for the ethnic Hungarian party to achieve good results and ethnic Hungarians to have a strong representation in Bratislava. “Nobody can view this as interfering in domestic politics,” he added.

He said Hungary was also rooting for Slovakia to have a government that considers Hungarian-Slovak cooperation important and which sees it as an opportunity rather than a problem. “All we can do is to fully accept the decision of Slovak voters because who else could make a more legitimate decision in Slovak matters than the people of Slovakia,” he added.