Upon invitation of the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, on the 2nd of February 2016 Croatian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Miro Kovac paid an official visit to Budapest. After visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina in this was the second official visit made by the newly appointed head of the Croatian diplomacy
Neither Hungary, nor Croatia are interested in hostility but in friendship and strategic cooperation, as it has been the feature of their relationship earlier – said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó. He offered his congratulations on the formation of the new Croatian government led by HDZ, and said Hungary is looking forward to the new government's work.
The two ministers reviewed key elements of bilateral cooperation, touched upon the topic of energy cooperation, economic and trade relations, ways to improve transport infrastructure as well as the issue of coping with challenges posed by migration.
Peter Szijjártó underlined, that a plan of settlement would be developed to solve outstanding issues. Among priorities he mentioned the restoration of railway transport between the two countries, the construction of the Sarajevo-Osijek-Budapest highway, the issue of the Croatian LNG terminal and the MOL-INA case.
The Hungarian minister also pointed out the figures ofbilateral merchandise trade which witnessed a 22 percent rise in the first 11 months of last year compared to data of the previous year. n 2015 this volume reached its highest trading turnover of all time. In order to keep up this momentum, Eximbank will offer a credit line of 185 million EUR for the development of the Hungarian-Croatian inter-company cooperation.
Miro Kovac Croatian Foreign Minister emphasized that Croatia and Hungary are two friendly countries, their friendship is strong and has a long history, and they will adopt this attitude regarding the resolution of open questions. He also referred to talks he had with the representative of the Croatian minority in Hungary, who expressed satisfaction with the way the Hungarian government takes care of this minority. Croatia aims at taking good care of minorities as well - he added.
Kovac stressed that Croatia intends to develop intensive cooperation with Hungary and the Visegrád Group. The current Croatian government is a forward-looking one, which intends to develop cooperation with Hungary, at the same time not to avoid problems – he concluded. He underlined the importance of dialogue and that arising problems should be solved in the spirit of good neighborliness.
