BUDAPEST: Agreements were signed on advancing energy and transport projects at a meeting of the Hungarian-Romanian joint economic committee in Bucharest on Friday, Levente Magyar, the committee’s Hungarian co-chair and state secretary for economic diplomacy, told MTI on Friday.
Romania’s new technocrat government relate to the joint projects in a far more open and pragmatic manner than the country’s previous government, Magyar said after the meeting.
The sides agreed to draw up plans within three months for opening ten new EU-financed roads that cross the border between the two countries but may still not be used because of a delay in Romania’s accession to the passport-free Schengen zone, he said.
They also agreed to complete work by 2018 allowing the second motorway connection between the two countries, one between Debrecen (E Hungary) and Oradea (Nagyvárad in W Romania), he added. Waiting times at the Nagylak border crossing (SE Hungary) will be reduced, Magyar said.
Romania has promised to take steps soon to establish reverse flow between the two countries’ gas networks, he added. There are more than 12,000 Hungarian-owned companies in Romania. Oil and gas company MOL has 200 petrol stations in the country and is involved in exploration there, too. OTP Bank has 120 branches in Romania and drugmaker Richter employs 1,500 people there.
