South Korea has been one of Hungary’s most important business partners in Asia, Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga said, following the second plenary session of the Hungarian-Korean Joint Economic Committee in Seoul.

Nothing demonstrates better the pace of improving economic relations than the fact that the volume of Hungarian exports to South Korea grew seven-and-a-half times in recent years, while the volume of bilateral trade has doubled, he pointed out.

At the meeting led by South Korea’s Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Joo Hyunghwan, we discussed options for bolstering bilateral economic relations, Mihály Varga said, adding that participating experts and businesspeople agreed that there is significant unexploited growth potential in the food industry, car manufacturing, machinery and equipment manufacturing sectors, bio-technology, health industry, electronics, science and technology as well as the tourism sector.

FDI by South Korean companies to Hungary has been on the rise for years; currently some 40 Korean countries are active in Hungary, among them several affiliates of the Samsung Group, which altogether employ some 25 thousand people.

South-Korean companies have been successful in Hungary and the Government has acted as a cooperating and supportive partner.

In order to foster even closer ties, Mihály Varga emphasised, Hungary wants to offer even more favourable conditions for Korean enterprises. Thanks to the Joint Economic Committee, a cooperation agreement has been concluded between Hungary’s Ministry for National Economy and Korea’s Small and Medium Business Administration to develop relations between small- and medium-sized enterprises.

At today’s session, tourism has topped the agenda of the Joint Economic Committee. Mihály Varga met with Korea Tourism Organization President Minh Minhong and Korea Association of Travel Agents Chairman Yang Moo Seung. According to documents signed earlier today, Hungarian Tourism Ltd is committed to cooperate with Korea Tourism Organization as well as with the Korea Association of Travel Agents.

The Minister stressed that the Hungarian Tourism Ltd attaches special importance to the South Korean tourism market, a place of great opportunities, and it has initiated talks on opening a local representative tourism office. The next JEC meeting is scheduled to be held in Budapest, in 2017.

(Ministry for National Economy)