He said Hungary needed partners to enter the age of electromobility and highlighted the country's strategic cooperation with China, the electromobility technology leader. He added that Hungarian-Chinese ties were now more intensive than ever before.

Orban noted that Hungary had earlier joined Hungary's Belt and Road Initiative and highlighted an invitation by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Budapest for Hungary to participate in the modernisation of China's economy.

He said Hungary had adopted a strategy of connectivity in the global economy and pursued "intensive and pragmatic" ties with all of the global political power centres. If Hungary is to achieve its economic goals, the country needs to keep its ties with China at the strategic level and develop them further, he added.

Orban said the government aimed to make Hungary a "meeting point" for investment, capital, technology and trade between the East and the West.

He said Hungary had always been opposed to European Union tariffs on Chinese products and had pressed for a return to economic cooperation based on mutual respect.

Bilateral trade between Hungary and China has doubled in the past ten years, while China has become one of the top investors in Hungary, he said. Chinese investments have become an "indispensable engine" for Hungary's economic growth, he added.

He also pointed to big infrastructure projects Hungary is working on together with China, including the upgrade of the Budapest-Belgrade rail line, the V0 ring railway around the capital and a crude pipeline between Serbia and Hungary.

In addition to building its manufacturing plant in Szeged (SE Hungary), Orban said BYD would bring a development centre to Hungary that would create 2,000 jobs for highly trained local professionals, mostly engineers.

BYD to establish European HQ in Hungary

Chinese vehicle maker BYD will establish its European headquarters in Hungary, founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu said after a meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest.

Wang acknowledged Hungary as one of the world's automotive industry centres, with well developed infrastructure and an established industrial base, and said putting the company's European HQ in the country was a milestone for BYD and tangible proof of Chinese-Hungarian cooperation in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Wang said the establishment of BYD's European HQ in Hungary would create around 2,000 jobs. The HQ will handle sales and after-sales service, vehicle certification and testing, and model planning and function development, he added.

Wang Weizhong, the governor of Guangdong Province, where BYD is based, said the region accounted for about 10pc of bilateral trade between China and Hungary. Companies from the province have made a number of investments in Hungary, providing the livelihoods for around 10,000 people, he added.

BYD announces Budapest investment

Chinese vehicle maker BYD will set up a business and development centre in Budapest, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said in Budapest.

The centre will be established as part of an investment of around HUF 100bn, Szijjarto said, adding that the government planned to provide HUF 20bn of support for the project.

BYD's new centre will create a total of 2,000 jobs and around 90pc of those will be for people with university degrees, mainly engineers, he said.

In the framework of a strategic agreement signed with BYD, the Budapest development centre will employ Hungarian PhD students, university researchers and students in vocational training programmes, he said.

At least 50pc of patents the centre produces will be registered in Hungary, and commitments were made to partner with as many local businesses and suppliers as possible, he added.
 

Source:
MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent. Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all the key narratives within the media landscape.

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