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Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday during his visit to Hungary that China is strengthening diplomatic relations with Hungary in a "comprehensive" partnership.
"We are willing to consider this as a starting point to take our bilateral relations and pragmatic cooperation to a more advanced level," President Xi declared.
Hungary was the third and last country Mr. Xi visited during his first European visit in five years. Mr Xi arrived in the Hungarian capital Budapest on Wednesday night after visiting France and Serbia.
While in Budapest, the Chinese leader met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has expanded his country's cooperation with China since taking power in 2020. Mr. Xi urged China's closest ally in the European Union to "play a greater role in the EU and promote a new and greater development of relations between China and the EU".
Hungary is expected to become the next president of the EU in July.
Hungary and China announced that they signed 18 bilateral agreements to deepen economic and cultural relations between them. Mr. Xi said the bilateral relationship between Beijing and Budapest "is at the highest point in history," according to a statement issued after the meeting.
New projects announced on Thursday include the construction of a gas pipeline between Hungary and Serbia and cooperation between Beijing and Budapest in the nuclear field.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also said that Hungary and China will start preparing for the construction of the Budapest railway that will transport goods produced by Chinese factories in the eastern part of Hungary to the markets of Western Europe.
Hungary has become an important investment and trade partner for China at a time when other EU countries are beginning to distance themselves from this Asian country. Budapest, meanwhile, has cultivated closer relations with Beijing and Moscow.
Beijing has invested billions in Hungary and considers it an important gateway to enter the 27-member European Union.
China is financing a major railway project that will connect the capitals of Hungary and Serbia with high-speed trains. This project will cost 2.1 billion dollars and the vast majority of this amount will be financed through a loan from China. The project is part of the One Belt One Road initiative launched by Mr Xi a decade ago to build global infrastructure and energy networks linking Asia with Europe and Africa.
"I want to assure the President that Hungary will continue to provide fair conditions to Chinese companies that invest in our country," said Mr. Orban. "We will create opportunities for the most modern technologies of the West and the most modern of the East to meet and build cooperation in Hungary."
During Mr Xi's visit to Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged Mr Xi to ensure fair trade with Europe and use his influence in Russia to end the two-year war in Ukraine./ VOA
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