Fellegi hammers out details of earlier agreements on China trip

The details of agreements made earlier are being worked out at talks in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, National Development Minister Tamás Fellegi told MTI on Wednesday, near the end of an almost one-week official visit to China.

Economic ties between Hungary and China have "reached a phase in which established, ambitious visions must be implemented", Fellegi said. The next concrete step will be the signing of a detailed agreement with the China Development Bank (CDB) and a meeting of the two countries’ mixed economic committee, he added.

Preparations for these are underway, he said.

Earlier during the visit, Fellegi continued talks with the management of the CDB on a general cooperation framework as well as the method of financing €1bn of projects in Hungary.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced the €1bn credit line to advance mutual investments with Hungarian partners during an official visit by the Chinese premier to Budapest in June.

Fellegi said Wednesday he had visited a plant of the Wanhua Industrial Group - as the owner of Hungarian chemicals company BorsodChem, the biggest Chinese investor in Hungary - in Ningbo and discussed with the company’s management how to strengthen BorsodChem’s role coming out of the crisis, thus ensuring growth and maintaining headcount.

Fellegi said he met with financial and foreign affairs leaders in Hong Kong to discuss possible forms of financial cooperation as well as strengthening tourism and investment ties.

"We also talked about how Hong Kong could participate in the issue of Hungarian government papers and bonds, as well as possible cooperation between Hungarian companies and the bourse," he said.

Fellegi said the chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange would probably come to Hungary for an official visit next year.