Hungarian economic development minister winds up trip to China

Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy has finished a five-day visit to Beijing, where he held talks on strengthening and deepening economic and financial ties between Hungary and China, his ministry said on Tuesday.

During the visit, Nagy met with high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Development and Reform Commission, as well as with executives of China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank. He also held talks with the head of the Silk Road Fund and discussed the European strategy of Huawei at the ICT company’s recently inaugurated centre in Beijing.

Nagy spoke about possible financing opportunities in Hungary with the executives of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Chinese FDI in Hungary, which stands over EUR 3 billion at present, is set to reach EUR 13 billion in the coming years on the back of electromobility investments, such as battery production, the ministry said.

Hungary needs to carry out large-scale energy and infrastructure upgrades for those investments to materialise, and it wants to undertake that endeavour with Chinese capital and the involvement of Chinese companies, it added.

Hungary supports the process in which Western and Chinese capital connect and Hungary’s role as a bridgehead strengthens, the ministry said. Nagy made it clear at the talks in Beijing that anything that counters this process is “harmful for both Hungary and Europe” and pressed for the removal of obstacles to trade, it added.

Source: MTI