Momirovic, Szijjarto discuss bilateral trade ties

BELGRADE - In terms of overall bilateral trade, Hungary was Serbia's fifth-largest trade partner last year with a 3.65 bln euro trade volume, as well as its fourth-largest export partner, with Serbian exports to the country worth 1.5 bln euros, Serbian Ministry of Trade Tomislav Momirovic said on Tuesday.

Momirovic said this at a Belgrade meeting with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto.

Momirovic said the volume of Serbia-Hungary bilateral trade had grown significantly over the past decade and that this had especially been the case with Serbia's exports to Hungary, driven by rising autoparts exports.

Momirovic said that, as co-chair of a Serbia-Hungary committee on economic cooperation, he would work with great attention on boosting the bilateral trade volume to 4 bln euros.

He noted that Serbia and Hungary had excellent political cooperation based on great cooperation and friendship between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, the Ministry of Trade said in a statement.

"Economic relations between Hungary and Serbia are characterised by continued growth of trade, significant growth of Hungarian investments in the Serbian economy and joint infrastructure projects of regional significance, and major cooperation between SMEs has been established in recent years. We took today's meeting as an opportunity to also discuss further steps for establishing even better trade relations between Serbia and Hungary as well as additional ties between our two peoples," Momirovic said.

He said continuing joint infrastructure projects and facilitating border procedures further to ensure free movement of people and goods at Serbia-Hungary border crossings were preconditions for that.