Hungary eyes up further cooperation with China through BRI: officials

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Hungary eyes up further cooperation with China through BRI: officials

2024-05-02 14:37 Last Updated At：21:57

Hungary has greatly benefited from its partnerships formed with China through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and is eager to broaden the areas of cooperation, Hungarian officials said ahead of the upcoming of visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to their country.

Xi will pay state visits to France, Serbia and Hungary from May 5 to 10, marking his first trip to Europe in five years and his first state visit to Hungary as president.

It comes as this year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Hungary, and the two sides have enjoyed a close cooperative partnership with Hungary being the first European country to sign BRI cooperation agreement with China.

"We are eager to welcome Mr. Xi Jinping in Budapest, so it will be a fantastic visit. We are ready to discuss about the next level of the cooperation with our Chinese partners. He is a decisive and excellent leader of a very big country," said Hungarian Minister of Finance Mihaly Varga during a recent interview with the China Central Television (CCTV).

Noting that the BRI dovetails with Hungary's "Opening to the East" policy, Varga said the two sides have conducted deep cooperation in such fields as logistics and electric vehicles.

Along with the construction of the Belgrade-Budapest railway, a 350-kilometer high-speed rail line project, which links the capitals of Serbia and Hungary, and the implementation of the China-Hungary air cargo hub project, Varga said the BRI will play a more crucial role in bolstering trade ties.

"The Budapest-Belgrade railway system, which is an ongoing process, [is an] ongoing development between China and Hungary. So I believe that once this route will start, we believe that it is another new point to build a better economic relationship with China. Mainly now we focus on the Budapest airport, we want to develop this regional airport and it is a good field of partnership with Chinese partners," said Varga.

Meanwhile, Gyorgy Matolcsy, the governor of the National Bank of Hungary, also spoke highly of the BRI, saying that it will contribute to the establishment of a mutually beneficial world.

"I am a fan, if I may say so, of this very smart and creative initiative made by President Xi Jinping. It means win-win relationship between the countries. From the point of view of Hungary, we are particularly proud of joining this initiative as the first European country. We made it(the agreement) in 2015 and also we benefited a lot from this initiative. The first decade, the first 11 years' time proved to be successful. It's a good initiative, it's a smart one. It's aiming for the future to build up a win-win world," he said.

According to Matolcsy, Hungary and China have also deepened their cooperation in the fiscal and financial sectors with an aim to further benefit the two peoples.

"We've got strong and fruitful political and governmental bridges and funnels and channels. On the other hand, we've got very close and fruitful relations with the Chinese financial sector. We managed to build up a good deal of innovative, creative projects aiming for the future of the financial world. It means that we are just focusing on some green bond projects. On the other hand, we are dealing with the central bank's digital currency project. We share our views with each other on this area as well," he said.

China remains Hungary's largest trading partner outside of Europe with the bilateral trade volume between the two sides hitting 14.5 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Xi, Putin attend opening ceremony of China-Russia Years of Culture

2024-05-17 00:39 Last Updated At：01:17

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the opening ceremony of the China-Russia Years of Culture and a special concert celebrating the 75th anniversary of China-Russia diplomatic ties on Thursday in Beijing.

Noting that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic ties, Xi said that the history of China-Russia relations over the past three quarters of a century shows that consolidating and developing lasting bilateral good-neighborliness and friendship, comprehensive strategic coordination, and mutually beneficial cooperation serve the fundamental interests of the two countries and peoples, and conform to the expectations of the international community and the trend of the times, which has irreplaceable significance.

Xi said that holding theme years in each other's countries has become a fine tradition of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Russia, as well as a feature and highlight in the history of bilateral relations, which has been widely welcomed by the two peoples.

Xi said that he and President Putin agreed last year to make 2024 and 2025 the China-Russia Years of Culture, and the two sides officially launched this cultural event on Thursday, adding that the two countries will hold a series of cultural exchange programs to further release the potential of bilateral cultural cooperation and jointly open up a new future of China-Russia cultural exchanges.

It is believed that it will inject new impetus into the course of carrying forward the China-Russia friendship from generation to generation and enhancing mutual understanding and building a closer bond between the two peoples, Xi said.

Xi said that both Chinese and Russian folk music are like beautiful flowers in the gardens of world civilizations, and that the concert will surely become a wonderful chapter in the history of cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Russia.

Xi called on the two countries to take the China-Russia Years of Culture as an opportunity and the celebration of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties as a new starting point, carry forward friendship, and work together to enrich the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination for the new era and open up a bright future for bilateral friendship.

For his part, Putin noted that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and said that the Russian people have sincere admiration for the great achievements the Chinese people have won under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

He said that based on mutual respect, equality and mutual trust, the development of Russia-China relations has promoted the development of both countries, benefited the two peoples, and set a good example for international relations.

Holding the Russia-China Years of Culture on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries is of great symbolic significance, Putin said, noting that Russia is willing to deepen cultural and people-to-people exchanges with China to enhance mutual understanding and promote the upgrading of bilateral cooperation.