China and Hungary tap new opportunities at Silk Road Expo

Bela Kakas, president of the General Assembly of Csongrad County, delivers a speech at a forum on business cooperation between Shaanxi province, China and Csongrad County, Hungary on June 8 in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province. [Photo by Yang Yang/chinadaily.com.cn]

China and Hungary have made great achievements and tapped many new opportunities at the 2017 Silk Road International Exposition and the 21st Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation between East and West China, said Bela Kakas, president of the General Assembly of Csongrad County on Wednesday in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

"We discovered possibilities in the province, shared a lot of information and made good friends, of which we can harvest the fruits in the near future," Kakas said.

A great many possibilities for future cooperation have been identified in various aspects during the Silk Road expo. For example, they prepared agreements on a sister township connecting Yulin in China with Macon in Hungary. They developed many new investments projects such as a new hotel business in Hungary with Chinese investment. They also singed an agreement on tourism development and created a brand new initiative to produce industrial hemp, according to Kakas.

In order to make sure all the agreements can be implemented smoothly, a Chinese-Hungary investment coordination office will be opened in Csongrad.

In terms of major cooperation areas between Northwest China's Shaanxi province and its sister Hungarian county Csongrad, agriculture and food processing will be top of their agenda.

Kakas also mentioned the Serbia-Belgrade-Hungary Budapest railway which was financed by the Chinese government in cooperation with the Hungarian government.

People-to-people relations form an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary hopes to have educational cooperation at different levels, especially higher and middle levels. A laser research institute has been established and they are expecting Chinese scientists and students to come there to participate in the research, Kakas said.

"At higher and middle levels of education, there are options for further cooperation. There are already many Chinese students at universities of Csongrad and I would like to strengthen this cooperation between China and Hungary at different levels," Kakas added.

China and Hungary inked a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, in June, 2015. The MOU about jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, was said to be the first such document China has ever signed with a European country, Xinhua news reported.

The 2017 Silk Road International Exposition is a very important activity for Hungary and the Hungary government has paid great attention to all events related to the Belt and Road Initiative, said Balazs Hadady, Consul-Economic Affairs from Consulate General of Hungary Chongqing.

Hungary's interest in cooperating with China goes beyond Shaanxi province with plans to bring many medical technologies to China.

Hadady also said Hungary is famous for spa hospitals and spa medical treatment takes a leading role in the world, suggesting there may be potential for businesses cooperation with Chinese counterparts in Chongqing and Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

In May, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, Peter Szijjarto, led the largest business delegation in Hungarian history to Southwest China's Chongqing for business cooperation opportunities.

Hadaby said Hungary has drawn the most Chinese investment in Central Eastern Europe.

More than $4 billion of Chinese investment was pumped into Hungary last year, according to Szijjarto in a previous interview with China Daily.