While in Kingpo, the Hungarian Foreign Minister signed several agreements that according to Mr. Szijjártó could see Hungarian food industry exports to China exceed USD 100 million this year.
On Wednesday, the Foreign Minister told Hungarian news agency MTI that the Chinese authorities would be lifting their ban on the import of Hungarian goose and duck meat, which was introduced last year as a result of the bird flu virus, in view of the fact that the reason for the ban no longer exists. This also opened an opportunity to close negotiations on exports of chicken and turkey.
According to another decision, the auditing of another four Hungarian companies in addition to the three who already have valid import licences for frozen pork will be ordered. “We have also successfully brought negotiations on the protocol for the export of milk products to a close, and this means that the Chinese authorities will begin the preliminary expert and quality testing of the Hungarian enterprises involved”, he added.
The Hungarian and Chinese parties concluded four agreements on the side-lines of the ministerial level China and Eastern-Central European investment and trade expo, which Mr. Szijjártó assessed as another breakthrough in Hungarian-Chinese economic and trade relations.
Last year, the largest volume of imports in Central European comparison arrived in China from Hungary and 2015 was the first year ever in which China was Hungary’s number one trade partner outside the European Union, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.
Hungarian exports to China increased by 23 percent during the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in the previous year, while food industry exports grew by 250 percent, the Foreign Minister highlighted.
To “maintain momentum” within the sector, a new food safety cooperation will be launched that could provide a market advantage to Hungarian companies since Hungary’s food safety regulations are the strictest in Europe and the GMO-free status of Hungarian agriculture is included in the country’s Constitution.
On Wednesday, Péter Szijjártó met with Chinese Minister of Commerce Mr. Gao Hucheng and with the Deputy Minister of the Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), Mr. Sun Dawei.
Mr. Szijjártó and Deputy Commerce Minister Mr. Zhong Shan opened the Hungarian-Chinese investment and trade forum with the participation of around 40 Hungarian enterprises sand 50 Chinese companies.
Based on Hungarian-Chinese economic, trade and business relations, Mr. Szijjártó said it was a clear success that the main target of the Hungarian Government’s policy of opening towards the East, namely that the country should become the main bridgehead for the economic expansion of successful Chinese companies in Europe, appeared to be reaching fruition.
“Our goal is for successful companies that bring production capacities to Europe bring them to Hungary. Last year, the 4th, 5th and 6th most investment in Hungary came from China, India and Japan, respectively. This clearly indicates that Hungary can provide an attractive investment environment”, the Foreign Minister highlighted.
The fact that the total value of Chinese investments in Hungary exceeded USD 3.5 billion last year and that Chinese companies are now providing work for 7500 people in Hungary is a great success, he added.