Economic relations between Hungary and China have gained new momentum with the announcement of the “Opening to the East” policy of Hungary, and the past few years have been marked by countless results. Central banks of the two countries signed a currency swap agreement, while the two export-import banks also inked a credit line agreement. The modernization and renovation of the Hungary-Serbia railway, one of the most important infrastructure development projects of the Central and East European region, would be completed mainly with Chinese financial support. Another major development was the relaunch of the Budapest-Beijing direct flight in May 2015, which helped to achieve a nearly 40% increase in the number of Chinese tourists to Hungary in 2015.
Chinese investments in Hungary have also shown steady growth recently. Bank of China, one of China’s biggest commercial banks, established its regional center of Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest, which serves as Europe’s fifth Renminbi clearing center. Leading chemical raw material manufacturing company Borsodchem’s acquisition by Wanhua Industrial Group made it the world’s third largest isocyanate producer and the largest European TDI producer. Huawei set both its European supply center and logistics center in Hungary, the latter responsible for the whole European and the Middle East. Himile, the world’s greatest tire mould maker, established its European manufacturing base near Székesfehérvár, Hungary. Both leading telecommunication equipment producer Lenovo and automotive interior manufacturer Yanfeng expanded their production capacities. Meanwhile, the projects of China BBCS Cooperation’s citric-acid plant in Szolnok and BYD’s first European electric bus factory in Komarom are both of great significance.
The two countries have signed the following major Bilateral Economic Agreements:
(1) Agreement Concerning the Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments (1991)
(2) Agreement between the government of the People's Republic of China and the government of the Republic of Hungary for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income (1992)
(3) Treaty on Mutual Civilian and Commercial Legal Aid (1995)
(4) Agreement on the Approved Destination Status of Hungary (2003)
(5) Economic Cooperation Agreement (2004)
(6) Credit Line Agreement between EXIMBANK and China EXIM (2013)
(7) Bilateral Swapline Agreement between Central Bank of Hungary and People’s Bank of China (2013, renewal: 2016)
(8) Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Hungary and he Government of the People’s Republic of China on Jointly Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road