Hungary wants talks with Serbia about new pipeline

Hungary wants talks with Serbia about new pipeline

Szijjarto added that Hungary, which largely depends on Russian energy, wants Russia to store more gas in its underground reservoirs, following the cancellation of the South Stream pipeline, and that he already proposed this to Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

"With South Stream being canceled we now have to look for new ways, how to get new sources and new routes into Central Europe," he said.

Russian giant Gazprom has already stored up to 700 million cubic meters of gas in Hungary since last year, Reuters said.

"The more gas stored here, the better for us - economically, and regarding energy security," Szijjarto said, adding that no deal has been reached yet, and that Hungary would not sell any of its gas storage facilities to Russia.

Azerbaijan remained another possible gas source, he said and added that "regional cross-border interconnectors along a north-south corridor and possible imports from Croatia via a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal there were also desirable."

"Whichever plan works, the EU should assist financially," Szijjarto said.

Transport and infrastructure

Peter Szijjarto will visit Belgrade on Wednesday to meet with his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic and Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic, it has been announced.

Szijjarto and Mihajlovic will attend a meeting of a trilateral working group on transport and infrastructure cooperation, set up by China, Hungary and Serbia.

The meeting, to be held in the Serbian government building, will address further steps in implementing a project aimed at modernizing the railway line from Belgrade to Budapest.

An agreement on the project was signed during the December meeting of the heads of government of China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries in Belgrade