In Moscow on Tuesday, prior to his talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán described relations between Hungary and Russia as balanced and predictable.
Speaking in the Kremlin in the company of the President of the Russian Federation, the Prime Minister expressed his pleasure at being able to take part in a bilateral meeting again this year, as in previous years. He told Mr. Putin that “Meetings with you have great significance in Hungarian politics, as we are important partners for each other”.
Mr. Orbán said that Hungary needs steady partners, adding that “I am pleased that for years relations between the two countries have been balanced and steady.”
The Prime Minister went on to say that one cannot describe the international environment as having always favoured cooperation, but “unfavourable conditions are there to be overcome”, and this has eventually happened: despite the fact that international sanctions had reduced trade between the two countries, they have managed to reverse this negative trend.
He said that he had arrived in Moscow to meet Mr. Putin in order to thank him for the work completed in recent years, through which the parties have managed to turn decline into growth. There is also the intention, he said, to open up further opportunities in trade, agriculture, investment, the energy sector and culture.
Welcoming Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, President of Russia Vladimir Putin said that Hungary is one of Russia’s key partners in Europe, and bilateral relations are developing on several fronts.
Mr. Putin praised the fact that bilateral relations are working well at both the level of the intergovernmental commission and at the level of regions. He pointed out that last year there was a positive trend in trade, with growth of 25 per cent, and that in the first half of this year the volume of trade increased at the same rate.
According to the Russian president, the level of mutual investments had reached USD 1 billion, and there is scope for further increases.