Central and Eastern Europe may continue to be the continent’s growth engine, and this is one of the factors due to which China considers Hungary to be an attractive investment destination, Minister of Finance Mihály Varga said after talks with SINO-CEEF Fund Chaiman Jianqing Jiang.
Hungary is providing investors with increasingly optimal investment options through a rate of economic growth that beats the EU average, decreasing taxes and a competitive business environment, the Minister pointed out.
The cooperation scheme launched in 2016, which includes China and 16 countries of the CEE region (Hungary, Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia) aims to boost economic development of the two regions, Mihály Varga noted.
China’s largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), established the Sino-CEE Fund of EUR 10bn to support investment in the CEE region, and Hungary has joined the initiative via the Eximbank, the Minister said. At the talks, the parties had an overview of investment options in Hungary, of which the first ones to be used may be in the field of infrastructure development, industrial production and agriculture.
The parties agreed that Hungary continues to be a good investment destination for Chinese enterprises, as the volume of investment from China has exceeded USD 4bn (EUR 3.5bn), and Chinese enterprises operating in Hungary give work for more than 15 thousand people.
(Ministry of Econmy/MTI)
