Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Gong Tao speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Budapest, Hungary, April 17, 2024. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

For the second golden decade of cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China and Hungary will continue to enhance high-quality cooperation and synergy between the BRI and Hungary's Opening to the East policy, Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Gong Tao has said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Gong noted bilateral cooperation has shown strong vigor and vitality, adding that China once again became Hungary's largest source of foreign investment and largest trading partner outside the European Union last year.

As the first European country to sign a BRI cooperation agreement with China, Hungary has been a distribution center for China-Europe freight trains and a crucial link in the logistics transport corridor between China and Europe over the past decade.

Moreover, several high-quality cooperation projects have revitalized bilateral relations and brought tangible benefits to both peoples, said Gong, citing the Hungary-Serbia railway project and the manufacturing facilities of Chinese battery producer CATL and electric vehicle maker BYD as examples.

During the next phase of ties, China and Hungary will continue to promote high-quality BRI cooperation in key areas such as the digital economy, the green economy, information technology and cross-border e-commerce, according to the ambassador.

Gong said that the two sides have "unlimited opportunities and broad prospects" for cooperation across the economy and trade, finance, innovation and people-to-people exchanges.

At the invitation of President Tamas Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Hungary.

This visit will surely become a milestone of great historical significance in China-Hungary relations, leading bilateral ties to new heights, opening up new prospects for practical cooperation and writing a new chapter in traditional friendship, Gong said.

He said that China and Hungary support connectivity, multipolarity, and inclusive globalization and oppose decoupling, supply chain severance and confrontation.

Gong expressed his hopes for expanding the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Hungary through deepening political mutual trust, reciprocal cooperation and international coordination.

Gong said China looks forward to working with Hungary to advance cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe while developing stable ties with the EU.