Hungary, Serbia to accelerate oil pipeline construction amid US sanctions
Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said Hungary and Serbia will accelerate the construction of an oil pipeline between the two countries in the face of US sanctions that undermine energy security in Europe, TASS reports
The politician said that, based on the lessons of recent weeks, Hungary agreed in a telephone conversation with the Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Djedović Handanović, on January 15th to accelerate ‘joint investments in energy security, including the creation of a new interconnector connecting the two countries' electricity grids and the construction of the first joint oil pipeline’.
Peter Szijjarto clarified that Serbia is a strategically important partner for Hungary. According to him, there is no Hungarian energy security without Serbia, and vice versa. At the same time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade noted that the energy crises of recent years, often caused by political reasons, have shown ‘that countries that are not rich in minerals and energy resources need close co-operation to guarantee their energy security’.