On Saturday, at the Crans Montana Forum in Baku, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán emphasised the importance of the EU creating closer cooperation with the Caspian region, in order to make the community’s energy supply more secure.

He added that if the EU wants to diversify its energy supply, then stronger political and economic relations are necessary between the Union and the Caspian region’s most important country, Azerbaijan. Although the country participates in the EU’s Eastern Partnership, the Hungarian prime minister thinks this is not enough, as the Union is often too slow and bureaucratic in this field.

In his remarks Prime Minister Orbán touched on Central Europe, explaining that in addition to East-West development, construction of a North-South energy system is also crucial in this region.

During his stay in Baku the Hungarian prime minister also expressed his support for further development of nuclear energy; he met with President Ilham Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and the Deputy CEO of the Azeri state-owned oil company.

Regarding energy supplies to Europe, last Thursday the Nabucco Consortium announced that the Azeri consortium, which operates the Shah Deniz II gas field, has chosen the Nabucco West pipeline to transport gas to Europe. The pipeline would run from the Bulgarian-Turkish border through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria and beyond. Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH (NIC) was created in 2004, with the following companies as members: OMV (Austria); MOL (Hungary); Transgaz (Romania); Bulgargaz (Bulgaria); Botas (Turkey); and RWE (Germany).

(Prime Minister’s Office)