PHOTOS: New Danube bridge opened between Hungary, Slovakia

Hungary and Slovakia on Friday opened a new bridge over the River Ipoly linking the border villages of Őrhalom and Vrbovka (Ipolyvarbó).

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the bridge was co-financed by the European Union and cost HUF 2.5 billion (EUR 6.6 million) to build.

Whereas in 2010 Hungary and Slovakia had just 22 border crossing points, they now have 39, the minister said. The 40th border crossing will be opened early next year at Drégelypalánk, he said.

Hungary and Slovakia both attach strategic importance to having ways to cross the border legally, Szijjártó said, adding that this was especially true given that Hungary’s longest border section was the one it shared with Slovakia, its third most important trading partner.

As regards the formation of the new Slovak government, Szijjártó noted that in 2014 it had been the governments of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakia’s Robert Fico that had signed the agreement on the construction of the bridges on the Ipoly being completed now.