China-Hungary working group to facilitate Belt and Road implementation

BEIJING - The China-Hungary Belt and Road working group will facilitate the implementation of the initiative, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks after the opening ceremony of the first China-Hungary Belt and Road working group meeting with visiting Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto.

Hailing the establishment of the working group as "innovative," Wang said it would be conducive to putting bilateral consensus into practice and improving pragmatic cooperation.

In June 2015, China and Hungary inked a memorandum of understanding on the initiative, the first document of this kind to be signed by China and a European country.

"This marks the successful alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary's Eastern Opening policy," said Wang, adding that bilateral cooperation has progressed ever since.

Noting that the current situation of China-Hungary ties are at a historical high, Wang said China is the largest trading partner of Hungary outside the European Union, and Hungary is the largest investment destination of China in Central and Eastern Europe.

Hungary is also a member of the "16+1" cooperation mechanism which groups 16 Central and Eastern European countries and China.

Wang said he hoped such specialized working groups will spearhead China's cooperation with other countries along the Belt and Road.

Earlier the day, State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with the Hungarian official, calling on both sides to further tap the cooperation potential within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and elevate the bilateral friendship and China-Europe relations to a new high.

Szijjarto expressed the Hungarian side's pride on taking a leading role in promoting Central and Eastern European countries' cooperation with China, and will strive forward to connecting Chinese enterprises with Europe.