Under the agreement, they will begin planning the construction of three new bridges and four new connecting roads, according to news wire MTI.
Hungary and Slovakia both have a vested interest in ensuring that Europe’s longest border connects rather than divides the two countries, Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.
Whereas in the past the border had only 22 crossing points, under an agreement between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico it now has 40, he said.
“This is good for everyone; it’s good for Hungarians, for Slovaks, for those living in southern Slovakia, for the two economies,” Szijjártó noted. “Therefore, a decision was made today to open the second chapter agreement on increasing the number of border crossing points.”
Under the agreement, Hungary and Slovakia will begin planning the construction of three new bridges. One bridge to serve freight traffic will be built in the Esztergom area, another to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists will be opened at Dunakiliti, and a third will be build on the river Tisza at Cierna, he said.
Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the M2 motorway will be extended northwards and three other roads are planned to be built at Ipolyvece, Zabar, and Vámosmikola, respectively. Also, several older border crossing points will be renovated, such as the bridge at Vamosszabadi, he added.
New train services will also be launched with a view to facilitating cross-border rail traffic between Győr and Bratislava, Szob and Sturovo as well as near Balassagyarmat and Salgótarján, the minister said.
He also underscored the importance of strengthening Hungary and Slovakia’s shared intention to establish cross-border rescue and health-care cooperation. “Because there could come a situation on either side of the border that the nearest ambulance station or the best-equipped hospital on the other side of the border is much closer then the one in our own country,” he explained.
“So it’s clearl in our interest to sign a new agreement on cross-border rescue and health-care cooperation so that those living in the border regions receive the most urgent and highest-quality care possible when they need it,” he explained.
Meanwhile, he said Hungary had a vested interest in the success of the Visegrád Group, noting that the alliance had allowed Hungary, Czechia, Poland and Slovakia to achieve “critically important” goals they would not have been able to on their own.
“Had the prime ministers of the Visegrád countries not cooperated, today there would be tens or hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants roaming the central European countries,” he said. “So our interests lie in the Visegrád cooperation being as effective as possible in the areas in which our countries have shared interests.”
Szijjártó also said that though there were sharp disagreements among the V4 countries on certain geopolitical issues, such as the war in Ukraine, if everyone was able to focus on the areas on which there is agreement, the Visegrad cooperation could resume.
“For our part, we will do everything in order to make this happen,” Szijjártó said, adding that both Hungary and Slovakia were prepared to resume cooperation.
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