Hungarian staff aboard cruise ship quarantined off Japan coast
Three Hungarians working aboard a cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan due to coronavirus are not thought to be among those infected by the virus, a foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.
The Hungarian embassy in Japan is making attempts to contact them by phone, state secretary Tamás Menczer said in a video posted on Facebook.
The foreign ministry also has information about another Hungarian national in the Philippines who is under medial observation in connection with the virus, he said.
Having been feverish, the person in question has made a recovery, Menczer said, adding he is waiting for the results of a lab test for coronavirus.
In a third case, the ministry has information about a Hungarian with a fever in Vietnam who is also under medical supervision, he said.
Foreign minister praises Hungary’s economic performance in Hong Kong
Within just ten years Hungary “became first from last” in terms of economic growth in the European Union, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on Monday.
At the end of last year,
Hungary had the highest growth rate among EU members, whereas in 2010 it had been placed 28th,
Szijjártó said.
The foreign minister praised the government’s “unorthodox” economic policy, fast adaptation of new technologies, as well as tax changes that all led to a higher growth rate. The government had made the strategic decision of continually cutting labour-related taxes and increasing wages, he added.
Referring to the government’s Eastern Opening strategy, Szijjártó said that the East has at least as great an impact on the global economy as the West. He noted that
38 percent of new jobs last year had been created by Chinese, Korean, and Japanese companies.
He added that Hungary was the first EU member to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Investments last year at record high, says Hungarian government
Investments in Hungary hit a record high last year, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday.
The government secured 101 large-scale investment deals with foreign and Hungarian companies, Szijjártó told a news conference. This amounted to three more than the previous record high reached in 2018. Their value totalled 1,705 billion forints (EUR 5.2bn), equal to 4 percent of GDP last year. He said the government had provided non-refundable grants totalling 156 billion forints to help implement the investments.
New jobs created by the investments pay 50 percent higher salaries than those created in 2017, which reflects the changing Hungarian economy, he added.
Szijjártó said that companies employing new technologies were now making investments in Hungary, and the economy was now becoming more geared towards research and development. Also,
last year was pivotal in that there were more investments coming from South Korea than from Germany.
Fully 48 percent of investment value in Hungary last year was carried out by two Korean companies, while South Korean, Japanese and Chinese investors provide a third of new jobs, he said.
Szijjártó noted that
the automotive industry is entering a new phase globally.
Hungary, he added, is a stronghold in this area, with eight new investments in the country in the production of batteries and their parts. Further, several companies are developing electric motor production in Hungary, he said.
Meanwhile, the minister noted that 14 business service centers were established in Hungary in 2019, providing highly-paid jobs for highly skilled young people who speak several languages.
Investments are also balanced across Hungary’s various regions, he said.
Szijjártó noted that Hungarian-owned companies made ten big investments in 2019 worth a total of 126 billion forints.
He said negotiations on further large-scale investments with a couple of automotive producers are ongoing, and the related investments are likely to be comparable to last year’s in scale.
China, South Korea, Japan agree to deepen cooperation in next decade
China, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan on Tuesday released the Trilateral Cooperation Vision for the Next Decade and the Trilateral + X Cooperation Early Harvest Projects, vowing to enhance their cooperation in multiple areas.
The agreement came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, ROK President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe jointly attended the 8th China-Japan-ROK leaders’ meeting in China’s southwestern city of Chengdu.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of China-ROK-Japan cooperation.
Li said China, Japan and the ROK are important development partners and have highly complementary economies as well as industry convergence. Despite facing twists and turns, they are committed to achieving win-win results through cooperation and tackling differences through dialogue.
Li made several suggestions on deepening cooperation among the three countries.
He called on the three countries to consolidate the foundation of mutual trust and safeguard the overall situation of cooperation.
The three countries should view each other’s development from an objective and reasonable perspective, uphold a right attitude toward history and the future, respect other countries’ core interests and major concerns, focus on cooperation featuring mutual benefit and win-win results, and resolve differences through dialogue and consultations to create favorable conditions for deepening cooperation, Li added.
The Chinese premier also called on the three countries to chart their cooperation from a strategic height and long-term perspective, clarify the direction and key areas of cooperation, deepen pragmatic cooperation and build the partnership.
On free trade agreement (FTA) negotiation and regional economic integration, Li said China, Japan and the ROK are firm supporters of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and should promote the signing of the RCEP in 2020 as scheduled.
Li encouraged the three countries to speed up their FTA negotiations, and build a free trade zone of higher standards as soon as possible to achieve a higher level of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.
Noting that China, Japan and the ROK are major innovation countries and have complementary advantages, Li called on the three countries to improve their capacity for innovation and share their achievements.
Li also encouraged the three countries to enhance exchanges and cooperation in sports, the Olympic Games and youth, and strengthen policy exchanges and pragmatic cooperation in health, aging population and climate change to enhance peoples’ sense of gain and happiness.
Noting that the current international landscape is undergoing profound changes, Li pointed out that China, Japan and the ROK should strengthen their unity, uphold multilateralism and free trade, jointly address challenges and make contributions to regional and global prosperity and stability.
The Chinese Premier then further expounded his views in four aspects.
First, the three countries should jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, said Li, adding that the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a peace mechanism is in the common interests of China, Japan and the ROK, and the three countries should continue to promote dialogue for progress, properly handle the legitimate concerns of all sides to push for a political resolution to the peninsula issue and realize lasting peace in the region.
Second, the three countries should champion a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and pursue the overall security of the region on the basis of common security interests, said Li, adding that security cooperation among countries should not target any third party or damage regional stability.
Third, China, Japan and the ROK should uphold the principle of mutual respect, fairness, justice, cooperation and win-win results, safeguard free trade, promote the reform of the World Trade Organization and oppose “decoupling”, he said.
Fourth, China, Japan and the ROK should enhance coordination in regional cooperation, guide regional cooperation to focus on East Asia and development, and maintain and improve existing cooperation mechanisms in East Asia to make them better suit the needs of regional countries, Li said.
For his part, Moon applauded the achievements of trilateral cooperation over the past 20 years.
He said against the backdrop of rising trade protectionism and increasing uncertainties, the three countries should closely work with one another, continuously expand their common interests, actively carry out cooperation in areas including climate change, environment, health, and aging population, focus on promoting technological innovation cooperation, intensify the protection of intellectual property, enhance people-to-people exchanges, and consolidate the foundation of future-oriented cooperation.
The ROK is ready to work with related parties to promote the denuclearization of the peninsula and safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula, Moon said.
Hailing that trilateral cooperation has had an extraordinary journey over the past two decades, Abe expressed hope that the three sides can pool their experience, chart a blueprint for cooperation in the next 10 years, and foster “triple win” relations.
The three sides should take the opportunities of successively hosting the Olympic Games to promote cooperation in such areas as sports, tourism and culture,
Abe said.
Abe added that under the current situation, Japan is willing to work with China and the ROK to safeguard free trade and multilateralism, as well as a fair, impartial and non-discriminatory investment and business environment.
After the meeting, Li, Moon and Abe attended a joint press briefing.
Li told the press that China is further expanding its opening up and welcomes enterprises from the ROK and Japan to conduct cooperation in areas such as health, old-age and child care, securities and life insurance.
“China proposes to designate 2020 as the year of China-Japan-ROK scientific and technological innovation cooperation,” said Li, calling on the three countries to enhance “China-Japan-ROK plus X” cooperation and to achieve common development with more countries.
He also expressed hopes for the three sides to tighten cultural ties and actively carry out Olympic cooperation.
According to Li, the three sides had in-depth exchanges of views on the situation of the Korean Peninsula and reiterated that the denuclearization of the peninsula and lasting peace in Northeast Asia are common goals, and dialogue and consultation are the only effective resolve to the peninsula issue.
The leaders of the ROK and Japan spoke highly of the fruitful results achieved in the past 20 years of trilateral cooperation and fully affirmed the leading role of the Trilateral Cooperation Vision for the Next Decade in the next step of cooperation.
They agreed to expand cooperation in environmental protection, climate change, health, aging population, scientific and technological innovation, sports, youth and other fields to elevate the tripartite cooperation to higher level.
They also positively evaluated the progress made in the RCEP negotiations, expressing hope to sign the deal on schedule next year, and agreed to safeguard the free trade system and multilateralism.
Also on Tuesday, the three leaders attended a series of commemorative activities marking the 20th anniversary of the trilateral cooperation at the Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum in Chengdu.
As a renowned Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Du Fu is also a popular historical figure among Koreans and Japanese. The poet sage had lived in the cottage for almost four years, during which he wrote over 240 poems.
The three leaders visited the museum and attended a launching ceremony of a commemorative envelope marking the 20th anniversary of trilateral cooperation.
They also visited a photo exhibition there and planted an osmanthus tree together.
Calling the tree a symbol of China-Japan-ROK friendship, Li said the tree will surely grow tall and luxuriant.
Orbán: Hungary, Japan success mutual interest
Hungary and Japan have a mutual interest in each other’s success, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Tokyo on Friday.
At a joint news conference with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Orbán said Japan’s success was important to Hungary since the country is its largest Asian investor. Japan, too, has an interest in Hungary’s success and has brought cutting-edge technology investments to the country.
Orbán said their talks covered the world’s defence, security and economic changes.
Hungarian-Japanese ties, he said, were “special”. Whereas many countries doubted Hungary’s ability to succeed in the initial stages of its post-communist transformation, Japan had never wavered in its belief in the country, bringing improvements to Hungary and helping it to ride out a tough period, he said. Hungarians, he added, had not forgotten this and were grateful.
Orbán welcomed the fact that 600 Japanese young people are studying at Hungarian universities, 400 of them medical students. The state, he noted, provides 100 related scholarships.
On the topic of North Korea, he said that Hungary understood the nuclear threat and its impact on Japan’s security. Hungary is insistent that North Korea should disarm its nuclear capability and act as a reliable partner for Japan in preserving peace in the region, he said.
The prime minister said there was one area in which Japan and Hungary competed fiercely, albeit peacefully.
“This is in the race for Olympic gold medals,” he said, adding that Hungary also wishes Japan all the best for the Tokyo Olympics.
Meanwhile, Orban invited Abe to visit Budapest. A Japanese premier has not visited Hungary since 1990, he noted, adding it would be fitting to celebrate the friendship of the two nations together.
Abe said Japan wants to further broaden its economic ties with Hungary and backs the Asian country’s efforts to encourage industries with advanced technologies and high value-added.
Hungary and Japan, he said, traditionally have maintained a good friendship since the 1990 change in political system, largely through cultural and scientific activities, and economic ties have developed apace.
He said Orbán had headed a long-standing and stable government and they agreed to work even closer together. Japan is keen to boost cooperation in science and technology and strengthen ties with the Visegrad Group, he said, adding cooperation in education, culture and sport would be on the agenda.
He said Hungary should act as a bridge between Europe and Asia.
Orbán is in Tokyo to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Hungarian-Japanese diplomatic relations. Before their news conference, an agreement was signed on extending the Stipendium Hungaricum Agreement and establishing a Hungarian guest lectureship at Josai International University, as well as an agreement on export credit insurance.
Foreign minister: Central Europe ‘continent’s engine of growth’
The importance of central Europe has gradually increased in recent years and the region has become Europe’s engine of growth, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Tokyo on Friday.
Thec, Szijjártó told a seminar in central and eastern Europe at the Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro). But now several economic indicators show them in the lead, he added.
The economic growth of the Visegrád Group is more than double of the European average and the group is also strong in terms of its political cooperation, he added.
All four V4 countries fulfil important positions in the new European Commission, Szijjártó said. Commissioners from the Czech Republic and Slovakia are vice-presidents, the Polish commissioners oversees agriculture and the Hungarian is in charge of enlargement, he added.
V4 members together represent a market of 64 million people. If they were a single country, they would be the second largest EU member, he said. The unemployment rate and public debt in the V4 are much lower than the EU average, he added.
The “secret of success” in central Europe is that countries in the region pursue rational policies based on common sense, he said. In economic terms, this means that taxes in central Europe are the lowest within the EU, he added.
Another reason for success is that central European countries effectively maintain monetary and fiscal discipline, he said.
They have proven that it is possible to get rid of the old dogma according to which there is a binary choice between economic growth or fiscal discipline, he said, adding that Hungary had proved that both can be accomplished simultaneously, Szijjarto said.
He said that the Hungarian government had recognised concerns connected to labour and has responded by reforming vocational training and higher education.
Concerning the future success of the European economy, Szijjártó said it was worth taking into consideration that while many experts talked about the significance of German-French cooperation, trade between the V4 and Germany was 70 percent higher than between France and Germany, so the region has a huge influence on the EU’s competitiveness.
A dispute is ongoing concerning Europe’s future, which mainly concerns the dichotomy of a strong Brussels coupled with weak member states, he said.
Central Europe’s position is that a strong Europe can only be built on the foundation of strong member states, the minister added.
Central Europe rejects western European attempts to harmonise tax across the bloc because this would involve raising taxes in the region. “We insist on low taxes because they are crucial to our competitiveness.”
Commenting on security policy, he said central European countries had a clearly anti-migration stand and insisted on protecting borders and upholding their right to decide whom to allow in.
Szijjártó noted that Japan is Hungary’s top Asian investor, with 170 Japanese companies employing 35,000 Hungarians.
The Hungarian government has signed strategic cooperation agreements with six Japanese companies, he added.
Orbán opens large-scale art exhibition in Tokyo
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán opened a large-scale exhibition featuring Hungarian and European artwork in the National Art Centre in Tokyo on Thursday.
“Hungarians are innovative people, capable of producing world-class artwork like the ones we see here today; because Hungarians need to prove that the world needs them, and that the world is well served if there are Hungarians,” Orbán said in his opening address.
“This is why there are so many Hungarian Nobel laureates, Olympic Gold winners and pieces of art such as these; it is all about Hungarians claiming their place under the Sun,” he said at the exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of Hungarian-Japanese diplomatic relations.
“There are more things that bind us together than what separate us. The common fabric of spirit, emotion and virtue is immediately recognised when a Hungarian speaks with a Japanese,” Orbán said.
He said the exhibition is paying due tribute, through culture, to Japan and Hungary, two nations with long-standing cultural heritage and traditions. The prime minister thanked Japan for the 150 years of friendship between the two nations.
Princess Tsuguko of Takamado said she had last visited Hungary in 2008 and looks back fondly on her memories of museums. She said the exhibition in Tokyo presents works never seen in Japan before and would further strengthen Hungarian-Japanese ties.
The exhibition presents some 130 masterpieces of European and Hungarian painting, drawing, and sculpture spanning 400 years from the Renaissance to the early 20th century.
In addition to works by such great masters as Cranach, Titian, El Greco, Renoir and Monet, it features masterpieces by Hungarian artists from the collection of the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts and the Hungarian National Gallery. It will run until March next year.
Hungary-Japan relations at ‘all-time high’, says foreign minister
Bilateral ties between Hungary and Japan are the best they have ever been, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Tokyo on Thursday.
Hungary and Japan’s friendship and alliance is based on mutual trust and respect, as evidenced by the confidence Japanese companies and people have had in Hungary over the years, Szijjártó told an investment seminar.
He said Japanese companies were among the first foreign entities to invest in Hungary during the country’s transition to democracy in 1989-90, a time when he said few had believed that central Europe and Hungary would be capable of achieving rapid growth.
The creation of the “Hungarian model” in 2010 was a similar turning point, Szijjártó said.
Up until then, the belief had been that a country had to choose between economic growth and fiscal discipline, he said, adding that Hungary had proven that both could be achieved at the same time.
Hungary aims to maintain a long-term growth rate that is at least 2 percentage points above the European Union average, Szijjártó said.
Among Hungary’s economic achievements, the minister mentioned the steady economic growth rate, the declining public debt, the creation of a labour-based economy, the reformed tax and vocational training systems and persistent wage growth.
Szijjártó praised Hungarian-Japanese economic relations, saying that Hungary aimed to further intensify bilateral cooperation.
Szijjártó noted that the seminar had been organised to coincide with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s visit to Japan. He said the absence of any unresolved issues between the two countries gave them a strong chance to intensify business ties.
20,000 Japanese books donated to mark diplomatic anniversary!
Twenty thousand Japanese books have been donated to Hungarian institutions to mark the 150th anniversary of Japan and Hungary establishing diplomatic relations, the organiser of the donation scheme, Sandy Juhász, said on Monday.
The Pécs University of Science library and knowledge centre has received 250 volumes of the donated books collected in Kagoshima Prefecture, in south-west Japan, she said at an event in Pécs.
Juhasz added that never before had Japanese literature come to Hungary in such great volume.
The Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church will receive 5,000 books, the bulk of the donation, she said.
The books collected in cooperation by Japanese and Hungarian volunteers are being distributed among educational institutions, libraries and Japanese-owned companies in Hungary, she said.
Barnabás Füzes, strategic and innovation deputy director at the Pécs University of Science library and knowledge centre, said that
the books would help Japanese language teaching at the university and also serve Japanese students studying in Pécs.
Read alsoWOW! The Japanese princess on tour in Hungary – photos
Important Japanese car-parts maker to invest in NE Hungary
A leading Japanese manufacturer of car parts will make an investment in northeast Hungary, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Wednesday in Tokyo after signing an agreement on the project.
The 13 billion forint (EUR 39.2m) investment project will create 300 new jobs, Szijjártó said by phone, adding that further details would be disclosed in the upcoming weeks.
Japan is the largest Asian investor in Hungary and the country’s third biggest trade partner in Asia.
It is the largest market for Hungarian food products globally, especially for pork and poultry, he said. However, Japan introduced major import restrictions in the wake of bird flu and swine fever, global problems that had an adverse effect on Hungary‘s agriculture, he added.
Szijjártó said he had met Japan’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Taku Etoh.
It was agreed at the meeting that a solution would be found in the near future to enable Hungarian pork to return to the Japanese market.
Szijjártó said he had also met Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Koichi Hagiuda.
Foreign minister Szijjártó praises Hungary, Japan ties
Hungarian-Japanese diplomatic ties are thriving more than at any time over their past 150 years, the foreign minister said in Tokyo after meeting his Japanese counterpart on Wednesday.
Relations with the world’s third largest economy in the areas of trade, politics, culture and education are better than ever, Péter Szijjártó told MTI by phone after talks with Toshimitsu Motegi.
Japanese companies have brought to Hungary advanced technologies, contributing to the country’s economic growth, he said.
The 170 Japanese companies operating in Hungary employ 33,000 people,
Szijjártó noted, highlighting their role in the automotive industry. Their developments and investments have boosted Hungary’s long-term growth rate at least 2 percentage points above the European Union average.
Szijjarto noted that
over 600 Japanese students study in Hungarian universities, about 400 of them in medicine.
Hungary will open a cultural institute in Tokyo at the end of the year, he added.
Szijjártó He announced that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will visit Tokyo on Dec. 5 and 6 to discuss further opportunities to boost political, economic and trade cooperation.
Denso exec receives Hungarian state honour
Katsuhiko Takeuchi, Denso corporation’s executive officer responsible for the Japanese company’s Hungarian unit, received on Wednesday the Republic of Hungary’s Order of Merit, Knight’s Cross.
Szijjártó thanked Takeuchi and Denso for their trust in Hungary, which, he said, had been given the opportunity to prove it can manufacture world-class products.
The global economy and politics have fast changed recently, Szijjártó said at the ceremony, adding that the East had played “a crucial role” in shaping those changes. A few years ago, 70 percent of global investments were undertaken by western companies. Today, eastern companies outperform western ones, which have seen their share in investments fall to 40 percent, he said.
In Hungary, investments by eastern companies have grown by 22 percent in recent years, he said.
Denso has brought cutting-edge technology to Hungary, which was instrumental in the Hungarian car industry assuming a leading position in Europe, he said.
Takeuchi said
the decoration was a “great honour”, adding the country has developed much since Denso set up its plant near Székesfehérvár, central Hungary, in 1997.
He thanked the Hungarian government for its “active support” for the plant’s expansion.
GS Yuasa inaugurates EV battery plant in Miskolc
Japanese vehicle battery manufacturer GS Yuasa inaugurated a 9 billion forint (EUR 26.9m) lithium battery plant in Miskolc, in north-eastern Hungary, on Tuesday.
The Hungarian government supported the investment with a 465 million forint grant, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said at the ceremony.
He called the automotive sector the “backbone” of the Hungarian economy, noting that it employs some 175,000 people.
The GS Yuasa Corporation’s Hungarian subsidiary was incorporated in 2017. Construction on its 60,000 sqm plant started last March. The investment created 51 jobs.
GS Yuasa Corporation employs some 15,000 workers in 17 countries.
Concerning Hungarian-Japanese economic relations, Szijjártó said Japan was the seventh largest investor in Hungary. He added that there are 160 Japanese businesses in Hungary employing some 34,000 workers.
Bilateral trade turnover exceeded 2.2 billion dollars last year, a 3.3 percent increase over 2017, the minister said.
WOW! The Japanese princess on tour in Hungary – photos
WOW! The Japanese princess on tour in Hungary – photos
She is on a 6-day-long official visit in Hungary on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of establishing the Japanese-Hungarian diplomatic relations. This is her first official overseas trip.
The Japanese emperor’s niece arrived in Bábolna to see the Equestrian Museum and the National Stud Farm 130 years after ambassadors from Japan came there first to choose horses for the Imperial Court. She was shown documents proving that in some of the Court’s horses are out of Hungarian bloodlines. Princess Kako was accompanied by István Nagy, Minister of Agriculture, during the tour – origo.hu reported.
The princess was shown the terrace from which the emperor’s envoys had surveyed studs to select for the Japanese court to take back in 1889. The princess was also shown the farm’s rose garden and its finest thoroughbreds – Salamat B, Purebred Arabian, Gazal XIX-2 Shagya-Arabian and Firsty, the Thoroughbred – in the riding hall.
István Nagy added that at the end of the 19th century, the Japanese Imperial Court’s horses took part in horse races in Budapest and even today some Japanese students study to become jockeys in Hungary.
The niece of Emperor Naruhito visited the Herend Porcelain Manufacture and Museum, as well, and the Benedictine Abbey and Museum on the Balaton peninsula in Tihany. In the latter, the 24-year-old princess was welcomed by prior Jeromos Mihályi. After visiting the church, they walked to the mirador admiring the panorama of the Lake Balaton.
The princess met with Japanese individuals living in Hungary and decorated them for their role in improving the Japanese-Hungarian ties –szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu said.
On Friday last week, she paid a courtesy call on Hungarian President János Áder to mark the 150th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Dressed in a kimono, Princess Kako smiled and shook hands with the president and his wife Anita Herczegh at the Hungarian Presidential Palace. She also attended a luncheon hosted by the couple.
Earlier that day, the princess took in the view of the city landscape along the banks of the Danube River, a UNESCO World Heritage site, from an observation point on a hill. She also visited the Hungarian Parliament and said that she already learnt a lot about the country’s history. Before she arrived in Hungary, she paid a courtesy call on Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen and attended a commemorative reception in Vienna. Her parents visited Austria and Hungary in 2009.
The princess also paid a visit to the Department of Japanese Studies at ELTE University of Budapest, where she met with students.
As we reported before, President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are also scheduled to pay visits to Japan this year.
Japan’s Princess Kako’s visit to Hungary in photos
Princess Kako of Japan on Saturday visited the Equestrian Museum and the National Stud Farm at Bábolna, in north-western Hungary, in the company of Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy.
The princess is visiting to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Japan and Hungary.
After the visit, the minister noted that representatives of Japan had visited Bábolna 130 years ago.
The princess was shown the terrace from which the emperor’s envoys had surveyed studs to select for the Japanese court to take back in 1889, Nagy added.
The princess was also shown the farm’s rose garden and its finest thoroughbreds in the riding hall.
Japan’s Denso inaugurates EUR 55m logistics centre in Central Hungary
Japanese automotive industry supplier Denso inaugurated a 18.5 billion forint (EUR 55m) logistics centre at its Hungarian base in Székesfehérvár, in central Hungary, on Friday.
The company received a 1.5 billion forint grant from the Hungarian government to the project, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said at the ceremony.
He noted that Denso is the world’s third largest automotive supplier present in 35 countries employing over 4,000 people in Hungary.
Japan is the second largest Asian investor in Hungary with 160 businesses operating in the country and employing over 33,000 people, the minister said.
Hungary and Japan celebrates 150th anniversary of diplomatic ties
Gergely Gulyás, head of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office, visited Japan at the invitation of the International Judo Federation.
According to a statement from the PM’s Office sent to MTI on Wednesday, Gulyás met Mitsuchika Tarao, the vice-governor of Tokyo, Takao Makino, Japan’s deputy farm, infrastructure and tourism minister, MP Seishiro Eto, head of the Japan-Hungary parliamentary chapter, as well as IJF head Marius Vizer.
Gulyás and leaders of the IFJ were received for lunch by Princess Tomohito.
Hungary and Japan celebrates the 150th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year. To mark the anniversary, Princess Kako will visit Hungary in September, the statement said.
President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán are also scheduled to pay visits to Japan this year, the document said.
Concerning bilateral ties, the document said that economic cooperation was in the focus, adding that Japan was Hungary’s greatest Asian investor with 160 companies active in the country.
The statement quoted Gulyás as saying that “good cooperation between the Visegrád countries increases the significance of central Europe and makes the region more attractive for Japanese investors”.
Battery separator film plant to be built in Hungary
Japanese-owned Toray Industries Hungary will build a 127 billion forint (EUR 380m) plant to make battery separator film for lithium batteries in Nyergesújfalu, in northern Hungary, the foreign affairs and trade minister announced at the site on Friday.
The government is supporting the investment, which will create 188 jobs, with a 4.7 billion forint grant, Péter Szijjártó said.
Akihiro Nikkaku, Toray Industries’ chairman, said the two-phase investment would boost Toray’s global battery separator film capacity by 20 percent.
- Photo: MTI/Bodnár Boglárka
Toray, which is one of the world’s largest producers of such film, has been present in Nyergesújfalu since 2014, when it acquired carbon fibre maker Zoltek.
Japanese companies important for Hungarian economy
Japanese companies are an important factor in Hungary’s growing economy, contributing to its Europe-topping first quarter annual growth of 5.3 percent, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday.
Speaking ahead of a working lunch with Japanese investors organised by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) in Budapest, Szijjártó said that cooperation between Japan and Hungary had always been based on mutual respect. “[Cooperation] has never been as stable and fruitful as it is today,” he said.
Japanese investments in Hungary are worth 2.5 billion US dollars and over 160 Japanese companies employ 34,000 people here, he noted.
Over the past five years, HIPA held successful talks with Japanese firms on 21 occasions and signed agreements resulting in 808 billion dollars-worth of investment and 3,000 new jobs, Szzijjártó said.
He expressed thanks to the heads of Japanese companies investing in Hungary for placing trust in the Hungarian economy and people. He highlighted Osamu Suzuki, chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corporation, who was the first Japanese businessman to set up a factory in Hungary.
The investment was made soon after the end of the communist era and it is still the only Suzuki plant in Europe, he added.
Szijjártó said Hungary’s economy was undergoing structural changes. While the global economy has slowed down, it is important that the Hungarian government is making decisions to keep economic growth 2 percentage points above the European Union average. An economic protection plan has been introduced to maintain economic growth, involving further tax cuts on labour and upgrading vocational training, he added.
Suzuki told the event that the plant in Hungary, built in 1992, is the second largest production facility of the carmaker overseas. Production has grown from annual 50,000 cars in the initial period to 190,000 cars since and the Suzuki models produced in Hungary are exported to 123 countries around the world, he added.