The Hungarian Minister emphasizes the status of China-Europe Railway Express as a transportation h
Hungary is one of the EU countries and Schengen countries. Its superior geographical location is an important link connecting Eurasia. In the past few years, China-Hungary relations have achieved many milestone achievements. In 2010, the Hungarian government began to implement the “open to the east” policy, in 2015, Hungary and China signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the “Belt and Road” initiative, which was the first EU country to sign the agreement. In 2017, Hungary and China upgraded their bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The "17+1" mechanism between China and Central and Eastern European countries also provides a valuable platform for the two countries to deepen bilateral cooperation in important areas. At present, China has risen to Hungary's largest trade and investment partner outside the EU. Hungary has become a hot spot for Chinese companies to invest and start their businesses, and it is also an important transit point for entering the European market.

According to related reports, the Minister of Innovation and Technology of Hungary, Prof. Dr. László Palkovics, recently emphasized the status of the "China-Europe Railway Express" as a transportation hub in Hungary:
Hungary has always regarded the People's Republic of China as a special strategic partner.
This innovative cooperation model of China-Europe Railway Express is an important project of China-Hungary "Belt and Road" cooperation. This creates an appropriate environment for Hungarian companies, provides modern and efficient logistics and trade services for Chinese companies, provides one-stop services for the entire international warehousing chain, supports the establishment of digital supply chains and the international marketing of new industries, and helps both Hungary and China Further strengthen facility connectivity and trade flows.
Promoting the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in the fields of modern trade, logistics and e-commerce is the main goal of the Hungarian government to further emphasize Hungary's role as a land transportation hub for China-Europe freight trains and European inland trains.
We are proud to say that currently all major trains in China and Europe are concentrated in Hungary, Dozens of European inland railways crisscross through Hungary, allowing goods to be quickly transported to major European cities through a well-developed and constantly improving railway network.
So far, seven cities and regions, including Changsha, Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Jinan, Ganzhou, and Jinhua (Yiwu), have been connected to each other through regular and mature China-Europe trains and transported products through Hungary.
The Hungarian government has made the implementation of competitive modern railway transportation a priority. We believe that the backbone of domestic transportation is railways, which must be safe, reliable, innovative, flexible and sustainable. The basic condition for achieving this goal is the continuous modernization of railway infrastructure and railway vehicles. One of the main benchmarking projects of China-Hungary cooperation is to modernize the Budapest-Belgrade railway within the framework of the “Belt and Road” initiative. After this route is renovated, Hungary will provide the fastest route for the transportation of Chinese goods between Greek ports and Western Europe. According to the goal that we will implement soon, the rail freight between East Asia and Europe will be shortened from 24 days to 14 days.
As China-Europe freight trains have been running regularly between Hungary and China for many years, the Hungarian government has further developed railway infrastructure to strengthen Hungary's role as a logistics hub between China and Europe.
We also envisage that by 2030, capitals of Visegrad Group (V4) countries such as Warsaw, Prague, and Bratislava will also be connected to Budapest via high-speed rail. However, in Europe, in addition to rail and road connections, Chinese logistics companies are also constantly looking for solutions and cooperation opportunities in the growing import and export air cargo field. Therefore, Hungary is also actively participating in the "Air Silk Road" cargo hub project.
In the past year, we can see the drastic changes brought to the world by the epidemic. Although the global supply chain has suffered severe damage during this extraordinary period, the China-Europe Express Train has kept the Eurasian supply chain running seamlessly. As the demand for inland transportation opportunities continues to increase, Hungary will strive to give full play to its role within various cooperation frameworks, with the help of our Chinese friends and partners, and connect all regions through advanced and safe logistics.(The author is the Minister of Innovation and Technology of Hungary)
On June 7, the first China-Europe train from Zhejiang Jinhua to Hungary departed from the platform of "Yixin Europe" Jinyi New District
The fewer barriers to trade between countries, the faster the economic recovery, holding high the banner of trade liberalization at the present special period is of unprecedented importance. Hungary supports free and fair-trade activities between countries and hopes to further deepen cooperation with China.
It has been a full 10 years since the China-Europe Express Train was officially opened in March 2011.During the ten years of development of the China-Europe Railway Express, China-Europe trade exchanges have been realized and a bridge of friendship has been built. In the prosperous trade exchanges, the ancient friendship between China and Europe is passed, the power of win-win is released, and the prosperity of the ancient Silk Road is reproduced. It has also contributed to the construction of the "Belt and Road" economic belt and injected new vitality.
Sources of graphic information: "Reference News", The Paper