Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Budapest soon, these will be the main topics of his visit

Boosting Hungarian-Chinese economic cooperation further will be one of the main topics on the agenda of the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Hungary, Eszter Vitályos, the government spokesperson, said on Tuesday.

She told journalists that Xi Jinping will pay an official visit of historical significance in diplomacy to Hungary on May 8-10, at the invitation of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President Tamás Sulyok. She said Xi is scheduled to arrive in Budapest on Wednesday and meet Sulyok on Thursday.

The visit is of historic significance also because it will be part of the Chinese president’s first visit to Europe after the coronavirus pandemic, Vitályos said, noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s schedule includes visiting only two European Union member states: Hungary and France, and a third country, Serbia, in the continent.

The Chinese President Xi Jinping’s schedule in Budapest includes a lunch with Orbán which the two leaders’ wives will attend, Vitályos said, adding that sports was expected to come up as a common topic of discussion since Xi is regarded as a big soccer fan.

Concerning the schedule, Vitályos said it included the ministers of the two states signing 16 agreements, adding that consultations on another two were ongoing. She highlighted a planned agreement on potential infrastructure upgrades linked to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

China was Hungary’s ninth most important trading partner in 2023 and is still the leading trading partner of the country outside Europe, Vitályos said, adding that Hungary continued to welcome investments from China and offers investors uniquely favourable investment environment.

She called financial cooperation an area with great potential in bilateral relations, adding that Hungary’s goal was to become a financial centre in the region and to serve “as a bridgehead” for an increasing number of Chinese banks in Europe.