The China (Liaoning) Hungary Friendship Week kicked off yesterday with a choir composed of children from both countries performing the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower".
The event took place in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning province, on Tuesday and is set to continue throughout the week.
The highly-anticipated Friendship Week will bring Hungarian music, films, crafts and traditional food to Liaoning.
Hungary’s ambassador to China said cultural cooperation between the two countries is flourishing at present and the friendship has been passed on to the next generation.
The Friendship Week is hosted by Liaoning Provincial People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Hungary and China have been forging closer ties of late. Hungary’s exports to China rank the highest among CEE countries, reaching 600 billion HUF last year (approximately 2.3 billion USD), and it also receives the region’s largest volume of Chinese investments (some 4.2 billion USD).
The project to renew the Budapest-Belgrade railway line with China’s involvement is a “flagship” enterprise, the first major scheme implemented in cooperation with China, an EU member state, and an EU aspirant. The line would be the fastest way for Chinese goods to enter Central Europe and on to the West.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, recently said that countries in the CEE region offer good opportunities for Chinese companies through their “reasonable policies, economic growth above the European average and competitive investment environment”.