Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary : Péter Szijjártó receives Gazprom Chairman in Budapest

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó received Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom and Russia's former Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov in his office on Wednesday, the Ministry said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.

According to the statement, following the meeting, Mr Szijjártó said: 'The future of natural gas shipments via Ukraine is uncertain, in view of which we have come to an agreement with Gazprom on the fact that the Russian company will already be shipping some of next year's required quantities of natural gas to Hungary this year'. 'Negotiations on this are progressing well, and accordingly we will soon be able to sign the agreement that will assure Hungary's industrial and public gas supply', he added.

'Last year, Gazprom shipped more natural gas to Europe than ever before, 202 billion cubic metres, while shipments to Germany also broke previous records, increasing by 9.5 percent within the space of a year', Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. 'The reality, based on existing infrastructure and developments in global gas prices, is that Russia will continue to be Europe's number one provider of natural gas in future', he pointed out. 'Hungary's gas consumption approaches 10 billion cubic metres-a-year, and accordingly it is in our interests to maintain a dependable cooperation with Gazprom that guarantees the security of our energy supply', Mr. Szijjártó emphasised.

(MTI)