“Hungary is still the flagship of Chinese-Central European cooperation and does not intend to allow this to change in future”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Budapest following a session of the Hungarian-Chinese Joint Economic Committee.
The People’s Republic of China has become Hungary’s tenth most important trade partner and Hungarian exports to China exceeded 500 billion forints (EUR 1.61bn) last year, he added.
Agriculture and the food industry are major factors in foreign trade and Hungary now has export licences to China for the largest number of product groups out of the Central European countries, he told the press.
Two Chinese automobile industry suppliers will be investing a total of 30 million euros in Hungary and creating 600 new jobs, the Minister announced, adding that one project is a capacity increase, while the other is a Greenfield investment project, both of which will be realised in Hungary’s Western Transdanubia region. Details of the projects will be officially announced with both companies within the next few weeks, he explained.
Mr. Szijjártó also reported on the fact that during the meeting of the Joint Economic Committee the parties had agreed to begin negotiations on exports of poultry meat and milk products. New markets must be found for Hungarian milk industry products to maintain the rate of development of the sector, he said.
With regard to the renovation of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, the Foreign Minister said that the project was not just in the interests of Hungary, Central Europe and the Western Balkans, but also fitted in perfectly with China’s Silk Road concept. Hungary has submitted the related inter-governmental agreement and procurement annex to the European Commission and the draft bill on the project will be put before Parliament this week, he explained. China’s Eximbank will be visiting Hungary in early April to submit their loan financing proposal to the Ministry of National Economy, he continued, adding that according to plan the project would be 85-percent financed by Chinese credit.
Mr. Szijjártó also reported on the fact that more than 125 thousand Chinese tourists had visited Hungary last year, an increase of some 40 percent from the previous year. The is thanks to the fact that a direct air route between the two capitals was launched last May, as well as accelerated visa application procedures, he noted.
Hungary’s Eximbank has signed an agreement with China Development Bank to enable the continued financing of Chinese investments in Hungary, he stated.
Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce and ministerial-level International Trade Representative Zhong Shan stressed: both countries can be proud of the fact that the volume of Chinese investments in Hungary exceeded 3 billion US Dollars last year, the highest in Central Europe, as was the volume of trade between the two countries. China has always viewed Hungary as one of its most important strategic partners in Europe, he declared.
There is huge potential within the field of trade between the two countries and many varying areas were mentioned at the session of the Joint Economic Committee, Mr. Shan said, according to whom it is important to increase the current volume of trade and investment. Hungary has lots of competitive products, especially within the field of agriculture and innovative products, he said, highlighting the fact that the Chinese Government would like to see as many Hungarian products as possible on the Chinese market in future.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
