Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas held bilateral talks with Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China Qu Dongyu on 23 September, during the course of which they reviewed current and potential opportunities for cooperation in agriculture within the fields of research and technology development (rice cultivation, aquaculture, animal husbandry, quality assurance) and environmental protection and technology.
Minister Fazekas highlighted with relation to agricultural trade that exports of live horses to China could begin soon. Hungary has received import permits with regard to an outstandingly high number of products, Mr. Fazekas said, adding that one of the priority tasks of the Ministry of Agriculture is the further increase of export opportunities to China. Among cooperation opportunities within the fields of research and training, the Minister drew attention to existing Hungarian potential within the fruit & vegetable and viniculture sectors.
Both parties welcomed the fact that Hungarian-Chinese relations have picked up recently.
In addition to institutional relations, agricultural trade relations have also gained strength. Mr. Fazekas was happy to be able to report to his colleague that the increase in exports remains unbroken. Exports have increased eightfold over the past five years, with exports tripling to over 22 million euros from 2013 to 2014. Chinese investments in Hungary now exceed 3 billion dollars and Chinese companies employ over 6 thousand people.
The Hungarian party stressed that the excellent relationship developed with the Chinese region is of extreme importance to Hungary, because our presence in China further increases the chances of Hungary being one of the logistics hubs for high volume trade between the region and the European Union.
The Chinese Deputy Minister agreed with his Hungarian negotiating partner that there are still untapped opportunities that are worth developing in view of the mutual gains within the fields of agriculture and environmental protection, and especially within the fields of technology and research & development. Mr. Dongyu emphasised the existing role of the China-Hungary Agricultural Science and Technology Cooperation Promotion Centre in research cooperation and suggested that an animal health subgroup should also be established between the two countries to further develop Hungarian-Chinese relations.
The Chinese delegation currently visiting Hungary is taking part in a wide-ranging programme of professional events within the framework of the Cooperation Forum, with the involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture and its background institutions.
(Ministry of Agriculture)
