Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi agreed on a five-point plan aimed at the further development of Hungarian-Chinese relations in Beijing on Saturday.

In a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI following the meeting, Mr. Szijjártó said they had set as a goal the establishment of a joint Hungarian-Chinese university founded by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Hungary’s National University of Public Service. The related agreement will be signed during the visit to Hungary by the Chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress at the end of May.

The two foreign ministers also discussed the development of logistics cooperation, including the fact that preparations will begin for a high-speed railway project linking Budapest to Bucharest via Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), which is planned to be realised with Chinese financial and technical assistance based on cooperation between the Hungarian and Romanian governments.

The third part of the plan relates to architecture cooperation in the interests of enabling Hungarian architects’ offices and architects to receive opportunities within the realisation of China’s national urbanisation plan, Mr. Szijjártó told the press.

Water was also a subject of discussion, with relation to which the parties set the goal of Hungarian and Chinese enterprises jointly realising water management projects in Asia and Africa, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

The fifth point of the development plan is the further expansion of tourism: following last year’s record tourism figures, the parties plan to further increase tourist traffic between the two countries through the launching of new air passenger services, he stated.

“Both governments are committed to the implementation of the plan, which is capable of raising bilateral relations, which were already raised to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership in 2017, to another dimension”, Mr. Szijjártó explained.

In closing, the Minister announced that to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hungary and China, the Chinese Foreign Minister will be making an official visit to Budapest during the second half of this year.

(MTI)