Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday called for more active measures to boost two-way investment in China and Hungary to promote bilateral cooperation.

 

Wen gave the call during his meeting with visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany in Beijing.

 

The Chinese and Hungarian governments should "take active steps to encourage enterprises to increase reciprocal investment" and "expand partnership in infrastructure and high technologies", Wen said.

 

CBTC Kft - a company set up by China's Genertec International Advertising and Exhibition Corporation in Budapest - AsiaCenter Kft and Fashion Mart Rt signed an agreement in Beijing to set up a China Brand Trade Center in the Hungarian capital of Budapest to market made-in-China brand goods for Europe.

 

The signing of the agreement coincided with Gyurcsany's four-day official visit to China that began on Sunday.

 

The CBTC Kft will lease the premises of AsiaCenter and China Mart in Budapest, covering an area of more than 200,000 sqm and an investment value of 250 million euros, to set up the China Brand Trade Center.

 

The CBTC Kft project will further strengthen the position of Hungary as the gateway of branded Chinese products to the European Union (EU).

 

"To keep deepening and expanding China-Hungary friendly and cooperative relationship is the consensus reached by both sides and conforms to the fundamental and long-term interests of the two countries," Wen said.

 

The two countries should continue to maintain high-level exchanges and intensify consultations and dialogues at various levels to enhance mutual political trust, he said.

 

Corroborating Wen, Gyurcsany said China has become Hungary's most important trade partner in Asia. He hoped Hungary would become China's gateway of trade, investment, logistics, finance and tourism in Central and East Europe.

 

"The robust growth of China's economy in the past 20 to 30 years has convinced me that the 21st century will be China's century," he said in his opening remarks at the talks. China has set a good example for Hungary.

 

This is Gyurcsany's second visit to China as Hungary's prime minister. During his stay in China, Gyurcsany will attend the opening ceremony of the Hungary Festival. A series of Hungarian activities will be held in major Chinese cities between September 2007 and April 2008, the prime minister said, will be a milestone in further development of bilateral relations.

 

"Our key objective is to introduce Hungary and bring her closer to the Chinese people, particularly the business community, and to show that Hungary, with its open economy, extraordinary geographical location, well-developed infrastructure and EU membership, can be an important partner for China to invest and promote tourism in the long term," Gyurcsany told Xinhua News Agency before his China visit.

 

Apart from Beijing, Gyurcsany will also visit Shanghai.

 

Statistics from the Foreign Ministry show that the trade volume between China and Hungary reached $2.57 billion in the first half of this year, up 47.7 percent year-on-year.

 

(China Daily September 4, 2007)