Steven N.
Hungary has benefited enormously from pragmatic co-operation with China based on mutual respect that must be maintained, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday after a video conference with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.
The Minister announced that Hungary would open another Consulate General in the country on December 1, this time in Guangzhou, which they hope will further develop economic and investment relations between the two nations.
He also pointed out that the value of trade between the two countries increased by 21% this year, reaching $8 billion by August, while the volume of Hungarian exports increased by 33%. Finally, Szijjártó announced that roughly 20 Hungarian competitors would take part in next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the minister reported that he had participated in announcing or laying the foundation for more than 90 billion Ft. (US $275 million) Chinese investments in just the last few weeks, and that negotiations were underway with other Chinese companies on developments in Hungary.
In connection with this, the Foreign Minister announced that China was the largest investor in Hungary last year, and in second place this year after South Korea.
Péter Szijjártó emphasized that vaccine cooperation between the two countries would continue, and that China was ready to negotiate the production of the Sinopharm vaccine in Hungary under license. He also emphasized that the Hungarian government would be happy to share its experience on the use of the Chinese vaccine for any future authorization process by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
On Thursday, a study on the effectiveness of various coronavirus vaccines used in Hungary was released. However, it showed that the Chinese vaccine, which has the lowest overall protection against Covid, was only 43.1% effective in protecting infection for those over 85 years of age.
