The Romanian-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, based in Budapest, is to be inaugurated next year, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu, on an official visit to Hungary, announced on Tuesday, according to Agerpres.

„Last year, we had over 11 billion euros in trade, Hungary being among Romania’s top trading partners, fourth in export and third in import. We still have to poise the trade balance that is to Romania’s detriment. In the first seven months of the year, we have seen an increase of over 32 percent in bilateral trade. Despite the negative effects of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, our bilateral trade is growing, which shows that there is an exceptional potential in our relationship, but in order to put these aspects on a more appropriate and articulated basis, we have agreed to establish a Romanian-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce,” said Aurescu, after the meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto.

According to minister Aurescu, the opening of this chamber of commerce next year is an achievable goal.

„I am glad that today we are taking an important step in materialising this topic, because the Hungarian side will make available the necessary financing for the concrete creation of this chamber – headquarters, staff and such, so that we can inaugurate this Chamber of Commerce in the next period, as soon as possible, at the beginning of next year, and I promise that I will be in Budapest again on this occasion to inaugurate this Chamber together. We had decided in July that we would do it today, but, unfortunately, we did not succeed. I am convinced that this time it is an achievable goal,” the minister said.

He recalled that his visit to Budapest takes place in the context of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Strategic Partnership Declaration between Romania and Hungary.

„Together with its Hungarian partners, Romania is engaged in identifying all the opportunities for cooperation and development of concrete joint future projects,” highlighted Aurescu.

The topic of the private visits of Hungarian officials to Romania and the statements they make was also addressed at the meeting.

„As regards the private visits to Romania and the statements that are sometimes made on that occasion, I think it is extremely important to maintain our responsibility regarding our dialogue within the limits of our common values, according to the Basic Political Treaty, according to our Declaration on Strategic Partnership, considering the importance of Romania’s constitutional values, respectively the importance of the common values of the European and Euro-Atlantic space to which we are tied together,” mentioned Bogdan Aurescu.

The discussions also covered the next session of the specialized committee in the field of the protection of national minorities, with its co-presidents due to have another meeting by the end of this year.

„Today we also discussed some of the issues (of minorities), we also discussed the Romanian minority in Hungary. There are still a number of difficulties they face, especially with regard to the mass media and, respectively, education in the mother tongue,”, added the Foreign Minister. He specified that on Tuesday he will also have a meeting with the representatives of the Romanian community.

Aurescu thanked for Hungary’s unconditional support for Romania’s accession to the Schengen Area.

„It is a very important objective of Romania which is to the advantage of both economies, both states and the citizens of both states who will have much more simplified movement between Romania and Hungary,” declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The two officials also addressed energy security, the increase in gas transit volume from Romania to Hungary. Minister Aurescu recalled that on December 17, the agreement between Romania, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Hungary for the creation of the „green” electricity transmission cable from Azerbaijan to Central Europe will be signed in Bucharest.

The support that Romania gives to the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, the NATO summit in Madrid and the ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Alliance that will take place in Bucharest, the support for the EU enlargement process, the Support Platform for the Republic of Moldova are some other points that have been on the agenda of the meeting.

Agerpres