Hungarian minister notes that China is now his nation's top foreign investor
To Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga, cooperation between financial institutions in China and Hungary is critical to the two countries' blooming cooperation in the economic and investment fields.
"We are thus constantly developing financial cooperation between China and Hungary," said Varga, who has been finance minister since 2018 and has also served as Hungary's deputy prime minister and minister of national economy.
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He said that such cooperation is greatly promoted by the presence of Bank of China, which has its Central and Eastern European regional center in Hungary. China Construction Bank and China Development Bank also started operations in the country in 2022.
In addition, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is about to open a branch in Budapest, the Hungarian capital.
Furthermore, Hungary has been successful in the Chinese bond market, Varga said.
In December 2021, Hungary was the first country to issue foreign sovereign bonds in the Chinese bond market, with 1 billion yuan ($138.4 million) of green "panda bonds". A second issuance of the bonds came in 2022.
"Later this year, we might issue further bonds," he said.
Varga added that financial cooperation between the two countries is also developing through various multilateral financial institutions.
He also said that while China-Hungary bilateral relations date back to the mid-20th century, the current era of intense cooperation started in 2010, when Hungary's new government changed its previous foreign policy of being exclusively oriented toward the West.
As a result of Hungary's Eastern Opening policy, China has become an increasingly important partner within this framework, and since 2017, China has been a strategic partner of Hungary.
Varga called this "a particularly beneficial result", since China is the world's second-largest economy.
The finance minister said he was pleased to see that China has become the largest foreign investor in Hungary in the past two years, covering fields such as logistics, transportation and e-mobility.
He said that Hungary's Eastern Opening policy fits well with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, adding that the modernization of the Budapest-Belgrade railway is a great and mutually beneficial project.
"This development is now in progress, with the trilateral cooperation of China, Hungary and Serbia," he said.
Varga said he was happy to see that many Chinese e-mobility companies have come to Hungary, from battery makers CATL and Sunwoda to battery material producer Huayou Cobalt and electric vehicle maker BYD.
"These production capacities give us a good chance for Hungary to become an essential and decisive player of e-mobility in the European market," he said.
Varga said the current Hungarian government has always been of the view that coupling and networking must replace political blocs and isolation in the world.
"History teaches us that (forming blocs) always leads to conflict, often ending in wars," he said. "On the other hand, connecting and cooperation always leads to results representing real value."
He said he believes that Hungary also has cultural reasons for building relations with China.
"The friendship between China and Hungary has a layer that is beyond economic considerations, as Hungary is linked to Asia also through cultural bonds," Varga said.
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He has visited China several times, including in early April, when he met with Chinese Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an.
Varga told the media after the April meeting that "over the past decade, Hungary has established itself as a bridge for economic cooperation between Europe and China".
Regarding his several visits to China, he told China Daily that he could see how China has developed "into one of the world leaders of the global economy".
"The last was a very short visit, but still, it was long enough to experience again that China is in a very progressive shape," Varga said.
He added that it is "always pleasing" to see that "developing the Chinese-Hungarian partnership is equally important to both of our countries".
