All conditions in place for boosting Hungary-China economic ties, says foreign minister

All political and cultural conditions are in place for further developing economic ties between Hungary and China, the foreign minister said in Beijing on Friday, prior to signing bilateral business contracts.

An effective economic cooperation with China is key for Hungary as China, the world’s largest economy today, offers Hungarian businesses a major market, Péter Szijjártó said.

Applying cutting-edge technology, Chinese businesses help efforts to increase the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy.

Szijjártó noted that Hungary had last year established a network of trade offices with a headquarter in Shanghai, adding that Hungary’s Eximbank had opened credit lines to promote Hungarian businesses in the Chinese market.

China has become Hungary’s top trading partner outside the European Union with bilateral trade totalling a record 8.7 billion dollars in 2018, the minister said.

He identified cooperation possibilities for Hungarian firms in IT and water management, as well as in the pharmaceutical, transport and food production sectors.

After his address, Szijjártó signed an agreement on the international airports of Budapest and Xi’an to allow the expansion of the number of destinations for flights.

He said that Hungarian drugmaker Gedeon Richter also signed an agreement which Szijjártó said could boost pharmaceutical exports.

The University of Szeged also signed an agreement with Huawei on involving Hungarian researchers in the Chinese telecommunication company’s R+D activities, Szijjártó noted.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI