FM Szijjártó: Kazakhstan to be key source for Hungary energy security

Kazakhstan is set to be an important source for Hungary’s energy security as shown by the record 630,000 tonnes of oil being delivered from the Central Asian country this year, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Astana on Thursday.

Speaking after a Hungarian-Kazakh summit, Szijjártó highlighted energy cooperation as a main topic on the meeting’s agenda, saying the global political, economic and security crises of recent years had made it harder to guarantee Europe’s energy supply.

“We, Hungarians are doing well on this front, because we view energy security not as a political issue, but as one of physical reality, which means we’ll be able to guarantee the security of Hungary’s energy supply as we have so far,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

Diversification will remain crucial in the future as well, and Hungary’s government assigns strategic importance to securing as many energy sources as possible for the country, he said.

“In our case, this doesn’t mean that we want to replace an existing source with another, but that we want to be able to procure energy from as many sources as possible,” he added.

Szijjártó said Kazakhstan was set to be a key source for diversification in the coming period, as the Central Asian country was set to play a bigger role when it came to oil and natural gas deliveries to Hungary.