Hungary’s top diplomat welcomes forming of energy community with Republic of Srpska, Serbia

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó welcomed the announcement that his country and the Republic of Srpska and Serbia would establish some kind of energy partnership and an energy community.

Péter Szijjártó, who visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointed out that regional cooperation is very important to Hungary as a landlocked country, local media reported. 

He said that the cause of the global energy crisis is the war in Ukraine, with which Hungary borders, adding that it further complicates the issue. 

When it comes to energy supply in the last few months, it is clear, in his words, that only the countries that can cooperate can be safe.

Hungary, the Republic of Srpska and Serbia can help each other

Serbia and the Republic of Srpska have invested a lot in energy security in BiH and Serbia is a reliable partner, so the said countries can help each other, Szijjártó stressed.

He said Hungary and the Republic of Srpska meet their energy needs via Serbia. But Serbia doesn’t have enough gas storage capacity, so Hungary helped it, he asserted.

In the meantime, Hungary realized that the Republic of Srpska invests a lot in hydropower plants, so the government in Budapest expressed interested in participating.

Companies from Hungary, Republic of Srpska and Serbia could invest in joint projects

“We hope that the energy companies from Serbia, the Republic of Srpska and Hungary will be able to cooperate and invest together in these projects, and to help each other in times of crisis,” Szijjártó told public broadcaster RTRS.

The Hungarian minister met with representatives of the Federation of BiH and the Republic of Srpska – the two entities making up BiH – and attended the Trebinje Energy Summit SET 2023.

Of note, Hungary and Serbia began to strengthen energy cooperation in May, after which in February they agreed to double the cross-border power transmission capacity.

In the Republic of Srpska, Hungarian company Lugos Renewables became the owner of 70% of the Trebinje 1 solar power project.