Szijjarto, Serbia counterpart reopen border crossing

Budapest, July 31 (MTI) – Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Ivica Dacic, his Serbian counterpart, reopened the border crossing between Hungary’s Roszke and Horgos, in Serbia, on Friday.

In his address at the ceremony, Szijjarto spoke highly of relations between Hungary and Serbia, adding that the two countries need to make joint efforts to eliminate “drawbacks arising from a central European location” such as difficulties in crossing borders, which hinders economic development. To that end, two further crossing stations with Serbia will be built, at Kubekhaza and Bacsszentgyorgy, he added.

With the new crossing facilities and longer opening hours at existing ones, Hungary and Serbia want to make “crossing in a law-abiding way” easier, Szijjarto said. But for illegal migrants it will be harder, he added.

Szijjarto noted that over 100,000 illegal immigrants had arrived in Hungary since the beginning of the year, mostly through Serbia. Hungary is obliged to protect is borders as well as the European Union’s external border, he insisted.