The two countries have also agreed to extend a long-term gas supply contract
Hungary purchasing enough Russian vaccine to inoculate one million
Szijjarto said that the vaccine will be delivered in three stages, with Hungary receiving doses for 300,000 people in the first month, 500,000 in the second month and 200,000 in the third.
The minister called the agreement with Russia a great achievement “in a situation whereby vaccine shipments to Hungary are slow and the epidemic is claiming 100-150 lives a day…”
Lavrov said cooperation in the fight against the epidemic represented a new area of bilateral ties. He added that Sputnik V had proven effective in Hungary and the Hungarian experts had approved its use accordingly.
Szijjarto later told MTI that Hungary and Russia have also agreed to extend a long-term gas supply contract set to expire in October this year.
Szijjarto said he had signed a political agreement to extend the 26-year supply deal with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. The details of the deal concerning volume and pricing will have to be agreed between Gazprom and the Hungarian companies involved, he added.
Also, Hungary will carry on with the construction of a 15km gas pipeline linking the Hungary-Serbia border to Hungary’s gas pipeline network, he said. From October, the pipeline will be capable of delivering 6 billion cubic metres of gas to Hungary from the south, the minister added.
This, he said, could give Hungary a chance to diversify its energy supplies, noting that the new pipeline will be linked to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline that will bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
“It’s important for us to have stable cooperation with the Russians when it comes to gas supply, because, although we’ve booked regasification capacities at the Krk LNG terminal in Croatia, because of how the infrastructure is and because of the situation in the region, Russia remains a key player on the regional energy market,” Szijjarto said. “So it’s good news that we’ve signed the political agreement under which Russia will continue supplying gas to Hungary beyond October.”