The Budapest-Belgrade railway line, which is being renovated via Hungarian-Serbian-Chinese cooperation, will represent the fastest transport route from Southeastern Europe towards the interior of the continent.

Speaking on Kossuth Radio’s “Sunday Paper” show, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said: “The Chinese One Belt, One Road Initiative (BRI) is resulting in international cooperation that can be seen in major infrastructure development projects, the promotion of trade, and the proliferation of financial services”.

“Hungary can profit from its geographical position in view of the fact that the maritime branch of the Silk Road ends at the Greek ports. And the competition will be about who can transport the goods towards the interior of the continent the most rapidly”, he emphasised.

“Trade flow between Hungary and China achieved an all-time record of 8.7 billion dollars last year, and a further increase in food industry exports is expected this year”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade highlighted.

A new air passenger service will be linking Shanghai and Budapest from 7 June. “Last year, a record number of Chinese tourists visited Hungary, 256 thousand, 14 percent more than in the previous year, and a 32 percent increase was also registered in January of this year”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “This is also being contributed to by the fact that applications for Hungarian visas can now be submitted in 15 cities in China, and the time required for visas to be issued has been reduced to just 48 hours”, he added.

Within the field of air freight transport, a new cargo route linking Zhengzhou and Budapest was launched in April, which flies twice-a-week and is contributing significantly to expanding trade flow between the two countries.

“In addition, one of China’s busiest airports, Xian, has signed an agreement with Budapest International Airport, and one of the points of the five-point action plan that provides a framework for Hungarian-Chinese development projects specifically concerns the fact that Chinese enterprises will be establishing a logistics centre close to Budapest Airport”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

(MTI)