Hungary – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held new talks in Budapest during a visit by President Aliyev to mark Hungary’s national holiday on August 20. Following this meeting, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, announced that energy cooperation between the two countries was entering a new phase.
A new energy partnership
A natural gas transport connection has now been established between Hungary and Azerbaijan, and Baku will be allowed to use Hungarian natural gas storage capacities for a volume of 50 million cubic meters. The cooperation between the two countries began in the early 2010s, but it is now becoming a true partnership in the energy sector, as emphasised by Szijjártó :
“Storage […] and delivery of natural gas have begun, creating a completely new situation. There is a real physical flow of natural gas between Azerbaijan and Hungary,
which will make a major contribution to the security of Hungary’s supply in the years to come.”
Forced to gradually abandon Russian hydrocarbons as a result of the European Union’s sanctions against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Hungary quickly opted to further develop its partnership with the countries of Central Asia and the Turkic Council, of which it is the only European member, and in particular with Azerbaijan.
