Chinese investments worth EUR 15 billion underway in Hungary

Currently, there are some HUF 6,000 billion (EUR 15.2 billion) worth of Chinese investment projects underway in Hungary, creating 25,000 new jobs, the foreign ministry quoted Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, as saying in Beijing on Tuesday.

The minister had talks with China’s former trade minister and head of the financial and economic committee of the National People’s Congress, Zhong Shan, and “reported good news” that China’s economy grew by over 5 percent last year and maintained the same rate of growth in the first quarter of this year.

Szijjártó said this was “good news for Hungary, too,” since “apart from the German economy, it is now China’s that has the biggest impact on the output of the Hungarian economy … the better off the Chinese economy, the better off the Hungarian economy,” he said.

Chinese investments in Hungary

Szijjártó said Hungary has now become the primary European destination of Chinese corporate investments. “Currently … plants worth 6,000 billion forints are being built in Hungary,” he said. “Once those factories are built … they will provide 25,000 jobs ensuring a secure livelihood to Hungarian families … and ensuring cutting-edge technologies in Hungary,” the minister added.

Szijjártó said those projects focused on the car industry, in which Chinese companies were now global market leaders, therefore “those companies are welcome to bring their plants to Hungary as their primary destination in Europe.”

Szijjártó called it another piece of good news that annual bilateral trade last year exceeded 10 billion dollars, adding that this was likely to be repeated this year too.

Not only are large Chinese companies coming to Hungary in increasing numbers, he said, but Hungarian companies finding more and more business in China. For example, he mentioned an MVM subsidiary producing cooling systems for power plants, which had been awarded contracts worth several ten million dollars, and was providing the cooling systems for several plants under construction in China.

Szijjártó said he was scheduled to meet the heads of several large companies. “Hopefully those negotiations will yield further jobs in Hungary,” he said.

The minister said he will meet his Chinese counterpart on Wednesday, “with regard to the fact that the two countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year.”

“Cooperation between China and Hungary has yielded a lot of benefits to both countries in recent years and the opportunities offer good hopes for the future,” he said.

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