On Tuesday in Beijing, on the occasion of the signing of further cooperation agreements, Minister for Innovation and Technology László Palkovics reported results which serve to further strengthen cooperation between Hungary and China in the fields of investments, the emergence of Chinese companies in Hungary, transport, education and research, finance and culture.

The Minister recalled that in 2014 Hungary announced the policy of easterly opening, as part of which it keeps looking for new opportunities for cooperating with China, and makes efforts in different ways to build an environment of trust.

Seventy years ago, Hungary was among the first to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, and in 2015 it was the first European country to join the global economic and infrastructure initiative Belt and Road.

The Minister said the volume of trade between Hungary and China exceeded USD 10.5 billion, while as regards the amount of Chinese investment per capita Hungary is number one in the Central and Eastern European region. However, only 2.1 per cent of total foreign working capital investments in Hungary are from China; therefore, the Hungarian government is making every effort to attract even more Chinese investment to the country, Mr Palkovics stressed, adding that there are especially many opportunities for cooperation in the areas of high technology, education, research, logistics and finance.

The Ministry for Innovation and Technology signed a cooperation agreement with the Beijing Tsinghua University about innovation and research transfer. At the same time, the Hungarian software company E-Group concluded an agreement with the Chinese university about creating a centre for technological transfer.

Another agreement was concluded in the fields of education and research between the Budapest-based Corvinus University and the Chinese travel services company CTrip which will set up an office and a dual training centre at Corvinus University.

As part of the cooperation between the Hungarian Záhony Logistics and Industrial Zone Consortium and the Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Zone in the fields of logistics and railway transport, a connection will be developed between Inner China and Záhony which could create further opportunities for trade between the two countries.

Mr Palkovics also mentioned that during the day the last obstacle to the construction of the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line had finally been removed as, according to plans, the financing agreement relating to the project would be signed before the end of the year, and construction works could commence at the beginning of next year.

In his speech he further highlighted that, according to the Hungarian government’s intentions, an agreement could be signed shortly with the Shanghai-based Fudan University about the establishment of an institution in Hungary which will be Europe’s first Chinese university.

(MTI)