In 2013, the friendly and cooperative relations between the People's Republic of China and Hungary maintained a good momentum of growth with practical cooperation in all fields continuously moving forward.
The two countries had close high-level exchanges and enhanced political mutual trust. In November, on the margins of the Leaders' Meeting between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), Premier Li Keqiang met with Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban and announced with his Hungarian and Serbian counterparts the decision to jointly build the Hungary-Serbia railway.
China-Hungary cooperation within the framework of China-CEEC cooperation became stronger. In July, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Coordinator of Hungary for China-CEEC cooperation Peter Wintermantel attended the Local Leaders' Meeting between China and CEEC held in Chongqing and met with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China and Secretary General of the Secretariat for China-CEEC Cooperation Song Tao. Minister of Human Resources Zoltan Balog came to China for the forum on China-CEEC cultural cooperation.
The two sides conducted vigorous economic and trade, financial, cultural and people-to-people, inter-party, military and local-level exchanges and cooperation. Minister for National Economy Mihaly Varga attended upon invitation the 15th China Hi-Tech Fair. The two sides signed a bilateral currency swap agreement of 10 billion yuan or 375 billion forints. Delegations of Chinese middle school students and students from the earthquake-hit Lushan County, Sichuan Province, made learning tours to Hungary. The third Confucius Institute in Hungary was established at the University of Miskolc. The two sides signed an agreement to set up a training center at the Confucius Institute of the Lorand University that would train Chinese-language teachers in Central and Eastern Europe. The "Happy Spring Festival" event was successfully held in Hungary. The two sides signed an agreement on establishing cultural centers in each other's countries and the Hungary Culture Center was officially launched in Beijing. Former Prime Minister Peter Medgyeesy and Minister of State of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice Robert Repassy visited China. Deputy Speaker of the House of the Nation Istvan Ujhelyi came to China for the fourth China-Europe High-level Political Parties Forum. General Hou Shusen, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and General Jia Ting'an, Deputy Director of the General Political Department of the PLA led delegations to Hungary. Minister of Defense of Hungary Csaba Hende visited China. The second China-Hungary friendship cities conference was successfully held in Budapest. In 2013, Shanghai and Budapest became friendship cities. By the end of 2013, there were 24 pairs of friendship cities between China and Hungary.
