Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, met with the French Minister for Industry and Energy, Marc Ferracci, during a visit to Paris on Thursday.

Minister Szijjártó said strengthening Hungarian-French nuclear cooperation is of critical importance, as it will be a fundamental bastion of Hungary's energy security in the coming years.

The minister noted that due to economic growth, industrial energy demand, and climate change, the world will need much more electricity in the coming period than before.

"This drastically increasing demand for electricity can only be met in an environmentally friendly, reliable and cheap way with nuclear energy. Therefore, both Hungary and France, pursuing a rational, common-sense energy policy, reject all pressure and negative discrimination against nuclear energy," Minister Szijjártó said.

He said closer cooperation in the field of nuclear energy was in the interest of Hungary and added that "in this regard, the French want the same. For the Paks [nuclear power plant] upgrade, Framatome will supply the power plant's control system, and a large French company will also manufacture the turbines for the new plant".

Minister Szijjártó noted that constructing the new nuclear power plant in Paks as quickly as possible will guarantee the security of the Hungarian energy supply and the ability to maintain the lowest utility prices in Europe, making the improvement of Hungarian-French nuclear cooperation absolutely critical in importance.