“与中国合作将产生巨大的影响”

李卉嫔

2017年5月13日，国家主席习近平会见来华出席“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛的匈牙利总理欧尔班，双方共同宣布两国建立全面战略伙伴关系。同年，中匈双边贸易额创历史新高，达101.4亿美元，同比增长14.1%。作为第一个与中国签署“一带一路”相关备忘录的欧洲国家，匈牙利与中国在经贸、投资、金融、人文等领域合作亮点纷呈。对此，本刊记者专访了匈牙利驻华大使白思谛先生，畅谈“一带一路”框架下中匈发展的愿景和期许。

记者：近年来，中匈合作愈加紧密，当前中匈交流与合作面临哪些机遇？

白思谛：2018年是匈牙利和新中国建立外交关系的第69周年，匈牙利是最早承认中华人民共和国成立的国家之一。在过去的69年里，世界各国都发生了巨大的变化，但是匈中关系始终保持稳定发展。两国之间既不存在历史问题也没有利益冲突，进一步加强我们的伙伴关系是两国及两国人民的共同愿望。

当前，世界经济重心正从西方向东方转移，从大西洋地区向太平洋地区转移，中国是这次转移的焦点所在。同样地，中东欧地区是欧洲经济未来发展最有前景的地区，也是最具活力的地区。纵观这个区域各个国家的发展，以及欧洲经济的增长数据，我们可以看到，欧洲经济目前发展的引擎在此。中国已经成为匈牙利在欧盟以外最大的合作伙伴。在过去几年中，我们将匈牙利打造成欧洲最具竞争力的投资环境之一，匈牙利也成为了中国投资者在中东欧地区投资最多的目的国。

记者：在“一带一路”倡议和“中国一中东欧”合作框架下，中匈交流合作的亮点有哪些？

白思谛：匈牙利认为“一带一路”倡议是一项宏伟的文明工程，是沿途所有国家的共同愿望。匈牙利是欧洲第一个加入“一带一路”倡议的国家，2015年与中国签署了《关于共同推进丝绸之路经济带和21世纪海上丝绸之路建设的谅解备忘录》，并于2016年同中国建立并启动“一带一路”工作组机制，我们很高兴并渴望向实际合作的方向前进。

中东欧地区是世界上经济增长快速且最具竞争力的地区之一，而中国是世界第二大经济体，我们相信，如果这两个经济发展势头迅猛的经济体联合起来，将产生巨大的影响。匈牙利一直是“中国一中东欧（16+1）”合作中最坚定的支持者之一。这项多边合作的基本理念诞生于2011年，当年首届中国一中东欧国家经贸论坛在布达佩斯举行。次年，中国启动了“16+1”合作框架。到目前为止，时间证明了这项区域性策略的必.要性和實用性。

记者：匈牙利是中东欧地区华人最多的国家，也是中国在中东欧地区最大的投资国，您如何看待这两者之间的内在联系和独特优势？

白思谛：我们的独特优势在于匈牙利拥有中东欧地区最大的华人团体。他们的很多成员在此出生和生活了几十年，为两国人民和文化的交流搭建了桥梁。为了保持华人社区的文化特色，我们在布达佩斯建立了完整的小学、中学和大学双语教育。这不仅有助于两国人民更好地相互理解，同时也有利于维护共同的经济利益。在一个中国语言和文化被广泛认同的国家和经济区，中国企业更容易获得成功。

匈牙利地处欧洲重要的战略位置，拥有欧盟5亿多消费群体，还有来自东欧的2亿消费群体。由于这里的高技能劳动力、杰出的大学教育、优越的地理位置以及高水准的供应商和先进的商业基础设施，全球80家超大型国际跨国企业中，近一半企业及其供应商（中小型）已在匈牙利建立了长期业务。对于投资者来说，匈牙利不仅是理想的生产基地，更是欧洲一个非凡的“先进制造及创新中心”。这与匈牙利进一步增加高附加值投资数量的规划一致——除“匈牙利制造”的项目之外，越来越重视“匈牙利创造”的项目。

匈牙利已成为中东欧对华出0最大的国家，为此，我们深感自豪，根据中国的统计数据，仅2017年一年，我们对华出口增长了25%，因此匈牙利对华出口额在2017年达到了创纪录的40亿美元。同年，匈牙利成为中国在中东欧地区的第三大产品市场，也是中国在该地区的第三大贸易伙伴。

记者：对到匈牙利投资的中国企业，您有哪些建议？

白思谛：吸引中国投资对我们国家来说变得越来越重要。目前，匈牙利是中国在中东欧地区投资额最大的国家，超过42亿欧元。我们希望在不久的将来，有更多的中国企业效仿华为、中兴、万华、中国中铁、比亚迪、中国银行、联想等，这些中国企业将体验到匈牙利有利的投资环境和政策，帮助其繁荣并进一步发展。

吸引中国对匈牙利的投资，是匈牙利政府很重要的愿景。因为从长远来看，这是未来经济增长的基础，也有助于使我国成为中东欧地区的制造业和创新中心。近年来，我国通过改革方针政策，包括引入以外贸为重点的外交政策来吸引外国直接投资、在区域内引入最低的公司税率之一、采用欧洲大陆最灵活的劳工法之一、2016-：2020年期间对研发活动的财政支持额增加一倍、建立适应劳动力市场需求的高等教育体系等措施，创造了欧洲最有利的投资发展环境之一。我们希望扩大两国之间的合作范围，并在创新和技术等领域进行深化。匈牙利政府已经与六家中国企业签署了战略合作协议，除了最大的技术和制造公司之外，最近还涌现出新的投资，如比亚迪、延锋汽车内饰和波鸿集团，这些新投资案例均来自汽车行业。

至于优惠措施，我们要强调的是，匈牙利拥有广泛开放的经济，我们的政府旨在营造出对投资者友善的商业环境。无论注册地在哪里，任何企业在匈牙利都遵循同样的政策法规，绝对不会歧视外资企业，这也意味着我们国家没有投资筛查机制。相反，匈牙利政府通过提供形式多样的补贴激励政策措施，来努力吸引外国投资者，补贴最高可能会占到总投资额的50%。

On May 13， 2017， Chinese！ President Xi Jinping met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ，who came to China to attend theBelt and Road Forum for InternationalCooperation， and announced the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. In 2017， the bilateral trade between China and Hungary achieved a record high of USD 10.14 billion， marking a 14.1 % increase over the previous year. As the first Europeancountry to sign a memorandum of understanding （MoU） on the Belt andRoad Initiative with China， Hungary has seen many highlights in its cooperation with China in economy and trade ，investment， finance， culture and many other areas. We arranged an exclusive interview with Mr. Mate Pesti， Hungary’s ambassador to China， to talk abouthis visions and expectations on the future development of China-Hungary relations under the framework of theBelt and Road Initiative.

Q： As China-Hungary cooperation and exchange are becoming increasingly close in recent years， what do you think are the opportunities facing the two countries？

A： As one of the first countries that recognized the establishment of thePeople's Republic of China， Hungary established diplomatic ties with the PRC69 years ago. Significant changes have taken place around the world over the past 69 years， but China and Hungary have maintained sound and steady relations. As we have neither historical dispute nor conflict of interest， further enhancing our partnership conforms to the common aspirations of both countries and both peoples.

Currently， the center of economic gravity is shifting from the West towards the East， from the Atlantic to the Pacific. China is the focal point of this shifting. Similarly， Central and Eastern Europe is the most promising and the most economically vibrant region in Europe. When we have a look at the development of countries in this region， and the data on economy growth of Europe， we will see thatCentral and Eastern Europe is now the engine for economic growth inEurope. China is now the second largest partner of Hungary， only next to the EU countries. Over the pasty ears， we have made Hungary one of the European countries with the most competitive environment for investment， enabling Hungary to attract the most investment from China among all the countries in Central andEastern Europe.

Q： What are the highlights in China-Hungary cooperation and exchange under the BRI and the "China-CEE"cooperation framework？

A： Hungary believes that the Belt andRoad Initiative is a magnificent project to promote the exchange betweenEastern and Western civilizations， and is the common aspiration of all the countries along the BRI. As the first European country to join the BRI，Hungary signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation within the Framework of the Silk RoadEconomic Belt and the 21st CenturyMaritime Silk Road Initiative with China in 2015， and established and launched the "Belt and Road Initiative" working group mechanism with China in 2016.We are glad to see and aspire for more progress in our cooperation.

Central and Eastern Europe is one of the most competitive regions， with rapid economic growth in the world. China is the second largest economy in the world. We believe that the partnership between such two rapidly growing economies will be of great significance. Hungary has been one of the determined advocates of"China-CEEC （16+ 1）" cooperation， a multilateral cooperation concept which was first proposed in 2011when the first China-CEEC BusinessForum was held in Budapest. In 2012，China initiated the "16+ 1" cooperation framework. So far， it has been proven over time that this regional cooperation strategy is necessary and practical.

Q： In Central and Eastern Europe，Hungary is home to the largest population of Chinese and also the largest invested of China. What is your view about the interconnection between the two， and what unique advantages does Hungary have？

A： Having the largest population ofChinese in Central and Eastern Europe is Hungary’s unique advantage.Many of these Chinese were bor inHungary and have lived there for several decades. They serve as a bridge for exchanges between the two peoples and the two cultures. To maintain cultural characteristics of Chinese communities， we have established complete bilingual education systems at primary， secondary and university levels in Budapest， which not only helps the two peoples better understand each other， but also helps safeguard our common economic interests. Chinese enterprises are more likely to succeed in a country and economic zone where the Chinese language and culture are widely recognized.

Thanks to its favorable strategic location， Hungary has extended its reach to 500 million and 200 million consumers in the EU and EasternEurope， respectively. Its highly skilled labors， excellent university education， favorable geographical location， well-developed suppliers and commercial infrastructure in Hungary have attracted nearly half of the world's top 80 superlarge transnationals and their suppliers（small and medium sized） to establish long-term businesses in Hungary.For investors， Hungary is not online ideal production base， but also an extraordinary "advanced manufacturing and innovation centre" in Europe.That is in line with Hungary's plan of increasing high value - added investment projects. In addition to projects of "Made in Hungary"， projects of "Created in Hungary" are receiving more and more attention.

We are proud that Hungary has become the largest exporter toChina in Central and Eastern Europe.According to the data of the NationalBureau of Statistics of China， our exports to China increased by 25% in 2017 alone， so the export of Hungary to China hit a record USD 4 billion in 2017. In the same year， Hungary became the third largest product market of China in Central and Easten Europe and also China's third largest trading partner in this region.

Q： Is there any advice for Chinese enterprises to invest in Hungary？

A： Attraction of Chinese investment is becoming increasingly important for Hungary. Hungary now embraces the highest investment from China inCentral and Eastern Europe， more than4.2 billion euros. In the near future， we hope that more Chinese enterpriseswill invest in Hungary following the steps of Huawei， ZTE， Wanhua， ChinaRailway， BYD， Bank of China， andLenovo. They will be provided withfavorable investment environment and policies that will help them grow.

It is an important vision of theHungarian government to attractChinese investment. Because it is the basis for future growth of economy and can also help build Hungary into a manufacturing and innovationcenter in Central and Eastern Europe in the long run. In recent years， we have implemented a series of reform policies， including introducing foreign policies that focus on attracting FDI through foreign trade， applying one of the lowest corporate tax rates within the region， adopting one of the most flexible labor laws of ContinentalEurope， doubling finance for R&D from2016 to 2020， and establishing a higher education system that can meet the demand of the labour market. With these efforts， we have created one of the most favorable investment arenas in Europe. We hope to expand the cooperation between the two countries and deepen cooperation in innovation and technology. TheHungarian government has signed strategic cooperation agreements with six Chinese enterprises， including the country's technology and manufacturing giants as well as emerging industrialplayers. For instance， companies from the auto industry， including BYD， Yanfeng Automotive Interiors and Bohong Group.

In terms of preferential measures ，let me make this clear： Hungary is an economy with extensive openness and our government strives to create an investor - -friendly business environment， where businesses inHungary， domestic or foreign， are subject to the same policies and regulations and will be equally treated despite of their registered domiciles.In other words， Hungary doesn't set any investment screening mechanism.Instead， we provide various incentives and subsidies to attract foreign investment， which may account for50% of the total investment.