Presenting Hungary's plans for its EU presidency in the second half of this year, Szijjártó said the government was to hold intergovernmental conferences with all five EU member candidates of the region.

Hungary wants to open new accession chapters with Serbia, close at least seven chapters with Montenegro, open the first chapters with Albania, adopt the negotiation framework enabling the start of negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and start meaningful negotiations with North Macedonia's new, strongly pro-integration government.

Szijjártó said the accession of these countries as soon as possible was not only a political or security interest, but also an economic one. He said Hungarian investments in the region reached EUR 2.5 billion and trade turnover quadrupled since 2010 to exceed EUR 7 bln.

He noted that Hungary supported the accession procedure by sending integration experts and provided training to officials from the region.