Minister Mitov and Minister Szijjártó discussed bilateral relations, energy security and migration crisis
21 January 2016 News
Minister Daniel Mitov held a meeting today with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó, who is paying an official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart. The two diplomats reaffirmed the traditionally good Bulgarian-Hungarian relations and agreed to strengthen the bilateral cooperation, guarantee energy security and step up efforts to deal with the migration crisis.
"The deepening of the bilateral dialogue between Bulgaria and Hungary in the economic sphere will contribute to the development of trade, investments, tourism and the energy security of our two countries”, said Minister Daniel Mitov during a joint press conference at the Foreign Ministry. Minister Szijjártó announced the establishment of a bilateral committee to promote economic cooperation and facilitate the communication between companies of both sides.
The ministers discussed also the Europe’s migration crisis, saying that Bulgaria and Hungary share the same concern about the complexity of the migrant and refugee problem. "Our goal is to find a common effective response to this challenge while taking into account the capabilities and the objective situation of each country. Our citizens and the European citizens as a whole expect us to take control over the situation and we should shape the environment around us and not allow the environment to shape us," Minister Mitov said.
For his part, the Hungarian foreign minister emphasized the need to guarantee full protection of EU’s external borders. "In this regard Bulgaria gives a good example of controlling the borders and addressing the challenges. We believe that there are no obstacles for the European institutions to initiate a procedure for the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen area," Minister Szijjártó said.
Minister Mitov and his Hungarian counterpart agreed that the border protection requires shared responsibility of all countries of the region. They emphasized that the EU should focus its efforts on protecting the most sensitive areas, including the maritime border of Greece. The Ministers also underscored the agreed commitments for stricter control of the Republic of Turkey and the role of the Republic of Macedonia to deal with the issue.
The talks covered also current topics on the European agenda, including energy security, and both ministers agreed that Bulgaria and Hungary have many common interests and potential for strengthening relations in this sphere. "Our two countries together with Romania will be looking for new ways to achieve energy diversification, including through the development of routes to connect Central and Eastern Europe with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran," Minister Péter Szijjártó said.
The foreign ministers discussed the people-to-people contacts, announcing the initiative to hold a day of Bulgarian-Hungarian and Hungarian-Bulgarian friendship. "Our foreign ministries support the idea of the Bulgarian community in Hungary. Thus, the parliaments of our countries will give special recognition to the relations and friendship of our people," added Minister Daniel Mitov.
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