Hungary was the first European country to sign a memorandum of understanding with China for the promotion of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative. Meanwhile, the country is moving to strengthen its cooperation with China in a variety of sectors including infrastructure, finance, agriculture and aviation.

Last year, bilateral trade between China and Hungary exceeded 10 billion US dollars, up more than 14 percent from the previous year. The consul general, Szilard Bolla said bilateral cooperation has deepened since the European debt crisis in 2008. 

“In 2010, the Hungarian government set up a new policy which is called 'Opening to the East.' And right after that later, it comes Belt and Road Initiative. These two initiatives are something meeting in the middle. This is why we can see there is huge development especially compared to the previous decades. Furthermore, all economy policies went into fostering and intensifying which would like to set up European operation in Hungary,” Szilard added.

In 2014, China, Hungary and Serbia signed a memorandum and agreed on a project to build a high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest. It is one of the flagship projects under the Belt and Road Initiative and expected to be operational in the next few years.

“Pulling this high-speed train and making it a completion is going to certainly helps to our nation's goal to reach other market. I think it's a win-win for both European and Chinese companies,” Szilard represented.

Meanwhile, the direct flight launched between Beijing and Budapest in 2016 has led to a 40 percent increase in Chinese tourists to Hungary. Now the consul general said he is working on opening a direct flight from Shanghai to Budapest.

Shanghai Feilo Acoustics Holding Company, the first joint-stock listed company of China, is now working on smart city projects with governments in Hungary, Serbia, Malaysia and the Philippines to help save energy, protect the environment and improve city management. 

Davis Yin, the general manager of the company is optimistic about further development. He said, “We can get a lot of chances to find our better partners in Hungary, and Hungary is a window. We open this door and we can find more and more opportunities in other countries.”