OREANDA-NEWS. Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kristóf Altusz paid an official visit to Oslo, where he held talks with Anniken Huitfeldt, President of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence of the Parliament of Norway (Storting). He also met his Norwegian counterpart Christian Syséle and Helge Skaara, Director General of the Department for European Affairs, and held discussions with Tove Skarstein, Special Prime Ministerial Commissioner for Migration Affairs.

The aim of the talks was to strengthen Hungarian-Norwegian relations, to promote bilateral political and economic relations and to discuss the most important current foreign affairs issues. The parties agreed that the challenges resulting from the migration crisis must be tackled as soon as possible. They also stressed that increasing Europe’s competitiveness in the long term must be a top priority, as it is the fundamental prerequisite for the European Union’s successful future.

In relation to Central Europe’s energy security, the possibility of a more significant role for the Norwegian energy sector in achieving the region’s objectives for energy diversification were also discussed.

Preparing for the NATO summit to be held in Warsaw, the parties also discussed their expectations in this field, and reviewed the general security policy situation of the transatlantic zone, as well as the current state of the Ukraine crisis.

The high-level Norwegian-Hungarian meeting being held in the near future will also serve the further development of relations between the two countries.