Belarus and Hungary intend to rise to a new level in the development of relations. The official visit of the Hungarian Prime Minister to our country will contribute to this goal. Today, Alexander Lukashenko held talks with Viktor Orban at the Independence Palace. This is the first visit after a long pause caused by the pandemic. The status of the guest proves his high level: Viktor Orban is a key political figure in his country.
The relations between Minsk and Budapest are almost three decades old. The countries have many points of contact. But the achieved level of contacts is not high enough, the leaders agreed. Both in politics and economy, the partners are interested in strengthening bilateral ties. The leaders have both stated that there are undoubted prospects for cooperation and that it is possible to support the upturn in relations that has been outlined in recent years. Alexander Lukashenko stressed the importance of returning to the format of personal communication between European countries.
Hungary is our close partner in the EU, and Belarus is interested in strengthening relations between European and Eurasian integration. The relations between the official Minsk and united Europe are on the rise, and Viktor Orban has also made a personal contribution to this, the President said. The countries are bringing closer the similarity of political views of the first persons. A personal meeting is an opportunity to reconcile positions on many aspects of the regional and world agenda, to boost economic ties.
Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary: "We have seen that our countries are much closer to each other than we thought. We support the development of the Eastern Partnership initiative, to which Belarus is a member. It is impossible to build up relations under the existing sanctions. The time has come to lift the sanctions against Belarus. After the pandemic, new cooperation in the economy will begin. And I think that the Eurasian and European integration will be of mutual interest to each other. On our part, we've opened a credit line of €40 million, which will finance large Belarusian-Hungarian projects. Besides, we are determined to closely cooperate in the nuclear energy sector. We are also building our own nuclear power plant. And in this sphere, just like Belarus, we reject any discriminatory pressure."
It is noteworthy that Hungary is building a nuclear power plant like the Belarusian one. Russian reactors, similar to those installed in Astravets, will become its nuclear heart. And Belarus is ready to share its experience in this area. The countries are also ready to develop an industrial partnership. A vivid example is the supply of Stadler trains to Hungary. A new agreement has been signed this year: 40 trains will go to Budapest. The partners expect a stable increase in mutual trade - up to five hundred million euros. The President has set a goal to reach this level in the next few years.
Possibilities for expanding cooperation between Minsk and Budapest discussed at Independence Palace
5 июня 2020
