Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peter Szijjarto has been quoted as saying that Hungary is planning to close on a deal for the supply of natural gas with Turkey’s state-run energy firm Botas soon.

Tass news agency reported that in a Facebook post, the minister wrote, “Türkiye will continue to play an important part in Hungary’s energy supply, with negotiations underway to sign a gas purchase agreement with Turkey’s largest energy company by the end of the year.”

Previously, Szijjarto had said that in the spring-to-summer of 2024, Hungary planned to purchase 275 million cubic meters of gas produced in Türkiye, and that the negotiations with Botas on the deal were almost completed.

He noted that in deepening the trade relationship between the two countries, the deal would help ensure that Türkiye could help support the energy security of Hungary.

He also pointed out that Türkiye has enormous importance in the energy market due to its role as a transit country for existing gas flows from nations such as Russia as well as other producers such as Azerbaijan, which has increased the gas flows it has supplied to the EU more recently, and Turkmenistan, which has been couched as a potential energy exporter for the EU.

Szijjarto said that the trade relationship between Hungary and Turkey with respect to energy products was, “acquiring a new dimension.”

Hungary continues to take receipt of most of its gas supplies from Russia through the TurkStream pipeline, and the branches of it which pass through Bulgaria and Serbia. However while Budapest has a strong commitment to a policy of diversifying its sources of energy supplies, it has also affirmed it will not abandon or neglect long-term contracts with reliable energy suppliers such as Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom.