As on the African continent, here in China they are to help Hungarian businessmen and representatives of Hungarian culture coming to the country. The opening of the HTCC coincided with the East and Central Europe Expo, which was an excellent opportunity to publicize the office in wider circles. The Mayor of Ningbo, the Hungarian Consul in Shanghai and several Hungarian businessmen, among them the Vice-mayor of Szekszárd, also took part at the ceremony. After cutting the tricolor ribbon, the Manager of the International Network summarized the aims of the “Hungarian Houses”.
It was Mr. Sándor Balogh’s dream to create a place, a “little Hungary” where Hungarians who come here can feel at home and get help to start their businesses from familiar ground and conquer new markets, new cultures, said Ms. Zsuzsa Orzói, international network manager of the HTCCs.
Mr. Lu Ziyue, mayor, warmly welcomed the opening of the first Hungarian Trade and Cultural Center in Asia.
It is an excellent initiative that will definitely deepen the relations between the two countries. It would be absolutely essential to publicize it in any possible forum and I will also help you do that, said the first man of Ningbo. Ms. Enikő Borbély, consul of Hungary in Shanghai also welcomed the initiative.
I am very happy that I could be here at the opening of the “Hungarian House” in Ningbo and I would like to congratulate Mr. Sándor Balogh and Ms. Zsuzsa Orzoi for the amazing job. I believe that they made a step forward and we would like to encourage Hungarians to do the same. There are excellent opportunities here for Hungarian companies, they only have to come here and discover them. During the past 3-4 years demand for foreign products has considerably grown in China, which is really an exciting opportunity for Hungarian companies, said Ms. Enikő Borbély.
Thanks to Mr. Andy Fu, in addition to the HTCC, a Hungarian shop has also opened in Ningbo; on the shelves you can find the best Hungarian wines.
I believe that the timing of the opening of the HTCC was perfect: both China and Hungary elected new government leaders and this week the China – Central and Eastern Europe Economic Ministers Meeting is held in Ningbo. The location is also perfect: Ningbo is Eastern China’s port city and also China’s largest commercial center. Shanghai is excellently connected and one-third of the people in Shanghai are of Ningbo origin. Through the HTCC, Hungarian commercial and cultural ties could scatter to the entire Yangtze River Delta, where the region is covering a nearly 300-million people market that is of the same economic level as the EU.
I was born in Ningbo and since 1997 I have lived in Budapest. My advice is the following: in China the development of business requires a good political background. I think the Hungarian government has created very good conditions for Hungarian businessmen to come and do business in China.
We hope that more and more Hungarian companies join us to present their products here. We will also organize local businessmen to help promote business here. Besides commercial activities, we are also planning to strengthen cultural, artistic and educational relations between the two nations.
At the end of this year, another project, the Hungarian Pavilion will be completed in Zhoushan city.In the future we are planning to expand our activities to other important cities in China.
– It is very important that we are talking about different cultures; when Hungarians come here, they sometimes fail to respond the appropriate way in certain situations. That is why it is a great help to have a representation here, besides the Consulate in Shanghai, where Hungarians can come and turn to someone if they want to do business in the neighborhood. I believe that this network will be successful. Besides the ones in China, many more could open in Asia, said Mr. Rezső Ács, vice mayor of Szekszárd, who brought the finest wines of Szekszárd to Ningbo.
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