Hungary will host the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit and business forum in 2025, President Katalin Novák announced in Bucharest on Wednesday. Speaking at the organization’s current summit, she said economic cooperation in the region was important, even in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, and welcomed the joint statement and its wording on Ukraine, report the media. Hirado.hu.
Katalin Novák mentioned that she visited Kiev twice last year and stressed that Hungary defends the territorial integrity of Ukraine, condemns Russian aggression and considers the achievement of peace as the most important objective.
She highlighted that the Three Seas Initiative was created to promote economic relations and effective connectivity in the wider region.
She welcomed Greece’s membership in the 3SI, but said it was equally important to reach the Western Balkan countries through this initiative.
A gradual opening towards the six countries of the Western Balkans would be favored, to the extent that the north-south connection does not stop at our borders.
At #ThreeSeasInitiative (3SI), I emphasized that #economic cooperation in our region is particularly important in the shadow of #war in Ukraine. This is why I am happy to participate in the 3SI political platform, where we can discuss economic issues and #security problems… pic.twitter.com/99mgf9xXO9
– Katalin Novák (@KatalinNovak_HU) September 6, 2023
The President also drew attention to the importance of population growth for competitiveness and reminded summit participants of the Budapest Demographic Summit, which will take place on September 14-15 in Budapest.
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The Three Seas Initiative is a joint initiative of the 12 countries of the European Union member states located between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas aimed at expanding trade links in the region. The countries concerned are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. 3SI will be extended to Greece, as agreed during the meeting.
After her speech, Novák had a bilateral meeting with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, who will host the Three Seas Initiative summit in 2024. Before that, President Novák met with Hunor Kelemen, President of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania.
The Three Seas Initiative Summit is currently being held in Bucharest, Romania on September 6-7. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Ahead of the meeting, he wishes to underline the importance of the initiative a year and a half after the start of the war in Ukraine, emphasizing the need to strengthen regional and European resilience.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined the summit by video. He stressed that recent Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Danube ports are “on the border of our three seas”, referring to a recent drone attack. The President also mentioned that Ukraine strongly opposed any additional restrictions on the export of their cereals.
Featured photo via Twitter/Katalin Novák
