President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban made statements to the press on January 30 in Budapest.

APA reports that first the Prime Minister of Hungary made a statement.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's statement

- Ladies and gentlemen, have a good time.

Dear Mr. President Aliyev.

Dear friends from Azerbaijan.

The meetings held between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Hungary are always of exceptional importance.

Mr. President and I have been working together for more than 10 years.

However, this is not just a meeting of friends today, today discussions were held on strategic issues, our strategic cooperation was raised to the next level and this cooperation was expanded.

The reason for this is that both countries are well aware and clearly see that not only Europe, but also other regions of the world are facing threats.

The environment in international relations today is more dangerous than ever.

The war in our neighborhood and the sanctions imposed by Brussels have created a very dangerous situation for Hungary, our energy security, the energy security of Europe has entered a sensitive moment.

These conditions created here immediately increased the importance of Azerbaijan.

This significance has made a kind of leap.

Azerbaijan has always been our friend, and now it is a strategic partner for all of Europe.

Everyone in Europe today understands that our answer to this situation is diversification.

We are talking about the maximum volume that can be transported from various sources.

Today we talked with Mr. President about our experience ten years ago.

At that time, both countries were already working on it to transport energy from Azerbaijan to Europe.

At that time, that plan was not implemented, if you remember, this is the NABUKKO project.

Maybe someday future historians will pay attention to why the NABUKKO project was postponed.

Of course, this coincides with the period before Russia's occupation of Ukraine.

At that time, of course, energy resources were not transported to Europe, but today we are again facing a scenario where energy volumes are transported from Azerbaijan to Europe.

For this reason, we highly appreciate Azerbaijan's commitment to this issue, which has signed a relevant document with the European Union.

According to that document,

In addition, we have signed another agreement.

We will bring electricity produced in Azerbaijan to Europe.

If you look at the map, you will see that these volumes of energy coming from Azerbaijan in terms of both natural gas and electricity will pass through Hungary.

Therefore, Hungary also wishes to be in a win-win situation in this matter.

Also, since we are located on the transport route, the role of Hungary will increase.

I am very happy that Hungary will be part of the solution - not the problem, but the solution.

It is clear that there will be a great need for the development of infrastructure projects.

We are talking about huge funds here, big projects should be implemented.

We have already started negotiations and cooperation with the energy companies of Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia in order to attract the necessary funds.

Romanians, Bulgarians and Hungarians have already started cooperation.

This is not just a regional issue, it is a pan-European issue.

Therefore, we expect that the European Commission will support these projects.

I would like to remind you that Mr. Aliyev and I recently signed another agreement in Bucharest, which will lay an electric power cable under the Black Sea and bring green energy from Azerbaijan to Europe.

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I am very glad that Mr. President Aliyev found time to visit us.

Today, of course, there are many friends of the country rich in energy and gas, but I would like to assure you that we have been friends with Azerbaijan for a long time, and I thank Mr. President for this cooperation.

Thank you very much for your attention.

xxx

Then the President of Azerbaijan made a statement.

President Ilham Aliyev's statement

- Dear Mr. Prime Minister.

Dear ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, Prime Minister, I want to thank you for the invitation and hospitality.

As Mr. Prime Minister mentioned, we have been in close contact with each other for many years.

We are connected by friendship.

Friendly relations between our countries are of great importance both for our countries and at the same time for the Eurasian continent.

The Joint Declaration on the deepening of strategic partnership signed today reaffirms our strategic partnership.

This is the second signed document on strategic partnership and once again shows that Hungary and Azerbaijan are really friends and strategic partners.

Of course, the successful policy and joint steps we have carried out over many years have created a very strong foundation for cooperation in the field of energy today.

Mr. Prime Minister reminded that great work was done on the NABUKKO project.

However, the NABUKKO project was not implemented because the financial sources were not determined.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan was actively working to bring its gas resources to European markets, and as a result, the Southern Gas Corridor was implemented two years ago.

This is a very modern energy infrastructure, its length is 3,500 kilometers, and Azerbaijan has been delivering its natural gas resources to the European Union for two years now.

According to the document we signed with the European Commission last year, we plan to double our gas supply, maybe even more.

There are resources, political will and contacts with our partners for this.

I am very glad that we have now revived the NABUKKO project, which was once considered a thing of history.

Through the interconnectors, Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to Bulgaria, then to Romania, then to Hungary, and after Hungary to other European countries.

We also discussed this.

Hungary is not only a consumer of Azerbaijani gas, but at the same time, it will act as a transit country of Azerbaijani gas to other European countries.

Of course, energy security issues are of particular importance in today's world, and I think they are at the forefront of the world agenda.

Azerbaijan's rich oil and gas resources allow it to be a reliable partner for Europe for many years to come - at least a hundred years from now in relation to natural gas.

The leadership of the European Commission calls Azerbaijan exactly that: a reliable partner.

The great green energy potential discovered in the recent past also increases the importance of Azerbaijan.

Of course, projects related to green energy and already implemented will bring us closer to Europe.

As my dear friend mentioned, according to the agreement signed last month, Azerbaijan will deliver its green energy to Europe, and today these issues were discussed once again.

In a few days, the countries involved in this project - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania - will meet in the first steering committee to be held in Baku and start working on the concept of future activities.

This is a project that requires a lot of investment.

Here, the production of green energy, its transmission, delivery to the markets, as well as the laying of a cable under the Black Sea - all these projects require a large financial resource, and at the same time, they require very strict coordination.

Therefore, we will take the first step at the meeting to be held in Baku on February 3, and thus the energy security of the European continent will be ensured in a more complete and comprehensive way.

Although most of our cooperation is devoted to energy issues, it is not limited to these issues.

At the same time, we are implementing our very big plans in the field of transport.

I can say that we have already started transferring goods from Hungary to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Hungary through railways.

This project also has great potential.

Because after the Russian-Ukrainian war, the volume of goods passing through the territory of Azerbaijan has increased sharply.

Last year alone, the volume of transit cargo increased by 75 percent.

The existing modern transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan - be it tankers, ships, a large sea trade port, or railways - all of them are modern and meet all the necessary requirements.

Therefore, even though Azerbaijan is a landlocked country, I think that

It can become one of the important transport and logistics centers of Eurasia.

There are very good opportunities for cooperation with European countries and especially with Hungary, which is one of our closest partners in the European Union.

In parallel with this, there are very good results in the field of education.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Mr. Prime Minister that 200 young Azerbaijanis are studying in Hungary with the support of the Hungarian government.

This is, of course, a very important event in the direction of the creation of personnel potential in Azerbaijan, and at the same time, it will greatly strengthen our friendship.

Another important area for cooperation is demining.

During the period after the Second Karabakh war, Azerbaijan faced great problems in this field, more than one million mines have to be cleared.

In two years after the war, about 300 Azerbaijani citizens were either killed or seriously injured.

Therefore, taking into account Hungary's experience in this field, we see good opportunities for cooperation.

In parallel with this, today, at the same time, opinions were exchanged regarding the activities of Hungarian companies in the liberated lands of Karabakh and Zangezur.

In the near future, maybe a week from now, we will start discussing specific projects.

We are very interested in working together in the field of urban development, which Hungary has a great experience.

Because not a single stone was left unturned in the freed lands equal to ten thousand square kilometers.

All buildings, all infrastructure were destroyed during the occupation, and we will, of course, revive these regions.

Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur have already been declared green energy zones.

That is, the multifaceted nature of our cooperation is in sight.

Of course, the energy sector plays a key role now that it occupies the world and European agenda.

However, there are other areas of our cooperation.

The main thing is that Hungary and Azerbaijan, as two friendly and partner countries, will continue to deepen bilateral cooperation and will not spare each other mutual support within the framework of the international organizations we represent.

Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I want to thank you once again for your hospitality.

Using this opportunity, I invite you to visit Azerbaijan.

Thank you.

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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban made statements to the press on January 30 in Budapest.

APA reports that the Press Service of the President released information about this.