Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban held bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Budapest on Thursday.

„Turkey is Hungary’s strategic partner both in the questions of security and migration,” Mr Orban said at a joint press conference held at Varkert Bazar, an ornamental garden at the base of Castle Hill. Mr Orban noted that one of the basic ideas of Hungarian diplomatic relations is that without Turkey it is impossible to stop migration into Europe. Talking about economic relations he said that a gas pipeline connecting Central Europe and Turkey would soon be complete and Hungary could start receiving gas through it in 2021.

Mr Erdogan called the Hungarian-Turkish relationship very good and expressed his wish for a similarly strong relationship in the future. The president said 15 Turkish businessmen have accompanied him for business talks and the Turkish government is providing its full support for establishing economic ties.

Before the press conference the parties signed a number of agreements including one on education and culture, one on road transport services , a memorandum of understanding on postal cooperation, a MOU on cooperation related to family matters and MOU on cooperation for space research.