"The most important statement made by the International Energy Agency is that over the long term, every government in the world must handle emission cut as a primary objective", Deputy State Secretary for Energy Pál Kovács made it clear at the International Energy Agency's presentation of the World Energy Outlook 2011 publication on 2 December 2011 in Budapest.

From the outset, the Hungarian Government has been committed to the addition of multiple sources to natural gas supply and supports all opportunities that improves energy supply security in Hungary, create genuine competition and allows search for alternative sources.

In this spirit, Hungary supports the Nabucco project and treats the Southern Stream as a priority project. In addition to the extension of sources coming from the east, a fundamental objective is to provide opportunity for gas supply in the north-south direction, between the Baltic, the Adriatic and the Black Seas. The high-pressure natural gas pipe between Hungary and Slovakia, which is of strategic significance, will be part of the North-South Energy Corridor and as such, contribute to the improvement of energy security in the European Union and Hungary.

Pál Kovács stressed that today the General Meeting of Magyar Villamos Művek Zrt. may confirm the company's commitment to the realisation of the Hungarian section of the gas pipe connecting Hungary and Slovakia - with the help of funds granted by the European Union at a later stage.

Thus progress may be made in the project in line with the previously approved time schedule, and the 115 km long pipe, planned for the two-way delivery of 5 billion cubic metres of natural gas may be built by 1 January 2015.

The Action Plan for the North-South Energy Infrastructure Corridor, also signed by Hungary in November 2011, identifies the Hungarian-Slovakian connection and the related Polish-Slovakian interconnector as two of the most important natural gas projects. In order to accelerate the licensing processes, in November 2011 the public administrative matters relating to the implementation of the projects required for the building and regular operation of the natural gas pipe to connect Hungary and Slovakia were assigned high priority.

The Hungarian Government is seeking solutions for the global challenges brought to the competent stakeholders' notice in IEA's most recent report. One of the fundamental assumptions made in the World Energy Outlook is that unless a bold change is made in the policy direction, the world will lock itself into an insecure, inefficient and high-carbon energy system. The Hungarian Government is also convinced that simultaneously with climate change policy and greed economy development, energy will be a pivotal area in the next few decades, and this is why the autumn approval of the National Energy Strategy was of outstanding significance.

The successfully applicable means of emission cutting include energy efficiency, energy saving, the parallel utilisation of renewable energy sources and nuclear energy, infrastructure development and awareness raising. In the Action Plans related to the National Energy Strategy, the Hungarian Government sets forth the measures required in these fields.

In the current extraordinary situation the Government does its best to raise energy policy among the key areas that can lead us out of the crisis, as put by Pál Kovács in his closing remarks.

(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)