The sixth session of the Hungarian-Russian Intergovernmental Committee for Economic Cooperation was concluded by the signature of a protocol and a joint declaration of modernisation and partnership on 18 March 2011 in Moscow. The documents were signed by Hungarian Minister of National Development Tamás Fellegi and Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov. Cooperation opportunities in the field of energy, agriculture, finances and transport were discussed during the talks.

During the two-day Hungarian-Russian negotiations, Tamás Fellegi had private talks with Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and also met Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Igor Sechin as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Aleksei Kudrin behind closed doors. At the separate discussions all issues causing tension were covered.

During the two-day meeting the parties discussed the most significant economic issues affecting the relationship between the two countries. The issues touched included the current state of financial cooperation, the opportunity to join large international projects in progress in the two countries, the current issues of cooperation in agriculture, and the various ways and perspectives of increasing regional cooperation.

Tamás Fellegi informed Hungarian journalists that during the talks the open questions of cooperation in energy matters and the Malév case were also discussed. In connection with the previous issue, the minister indicated: the opportunities of cooperation in security issues related to nuclear energy were also discussed in the context of the events happened in Japan.

The declaration of partnership aimed at modernisation and signed on Friday outlines the long-term cooperation opportunities for business organisations, and creates a framework for cooperation between the two governments in modernisation, research and development. The expected impacts of the recent events in Japan, the Near East and North Africa on the prices of energy carriers and the safety of supply were discussed during the Russian talks. The parties sought longer-term solutions in order to avoid excessive price fluctuations.

(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)