Mr. Dióssi Lóránd, Consul-General of the Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing:A Cooperative Model of the Belt and Road to Develop Hot Spring with Chongqing

□ Article/Journalist Xiong Yi

Mr. Dióssi Lóránd, Consul-General of the Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing:A Cooperative Model of the Belt and Road to Develop Hot Spring with Chongqing

□ Article/Journalist Xiong Yi

“The No.2 tram in Budapest is the best choice for tourists to enjoy the view of Danube. Coincidentally,the light rail line 2 in Chongqing is also a city landscape along the Jialing River.” In August 18, Mr. Dióssi Lóránd, Consul-General of the Hungarian Consulate General in Chongqing,and Consul Mr. Nemeth Miklos Ivan told reporters about their impressions and opportunities of Chongqing with their fl uent mandarin.“All Hungarian diplomats in Chongqing speak fluent Chinese,” they said proudly.

Impressions of Chongqing: They love the upright character of Chongqing people and the city is becoming more and more international

“Although Budapest, the Hungarian capital and Chongqing are very far apart, the two cities look very similar with mountains and rivers.” Mr. Dióssi Lóránd,Consul-General of the Hungarian Consulate General in Chongqing said that the common ground of two cities make him feel amiable. He believed that the level of Chongqing's infrastructure construction is very sharp whether in Asia or Europe and the road and bridge construction in Chongqing are very difficult. “To take a picture of Chongqing from the air, the whole view of Chongqing is rather good even compared with other cities in the world.” He suggested that Chongqing should also publicize its advantages to the outside world.

“I have visited about every province and city including the municipality directly under the Central Government.However, as the character of Chongqing people is the most straightforward, communication would become very easy.” he said, “especially the work negotiation with relevant government department. ” The negotiation may be dif fi cult in other places while easy in Chongqing. “Chongqing people could always give us a clear response whether it is ok or not. We all think that's nice.” This year, various work of the Hungarian Consulate General has achieved good results. Mr.Dióssi Lóránd believes that all thank to the smooth communication and exchange with Chongqing.

“The winter in Chongqing is a little bit cold, rainy and foggy. On the second morning of my arrival in Chongqing, a vast expanse of whiteness came to my eyes when I opened the drapes and the window.I thought that a layer of white yarn was right in front of me, which was actually the fog in Chongqing.” In March 2012, when Mr. Nemeth Miklos Ivan, consul of Consulate General of Hungary in Chongqing, first came to of fi cially take the post in Chongqing, he wasimpressed by the unique fi rst impression of Chongqing. With the gradually in-depth understanding of Chongqing, he found that Chongqing and Hungary are similar. “Chongqing diet is right for my stomach as our Hungarians also love the chili oil as well as the pork and haslet. Although the spicy fl avor is not the same, we also like the food with a strong fl avor like most Chongqing people.”

For the past 5 years, Mr. Nemeth Miklos Ivan has become an old Chongqing hand. What impressed him most is that Chongqing is now becoming more and more internationalized. On the one hand, more international routes have been opened. “Now Jiangbei International Airport had dozens of international routes,especially the direct flights to European cities, which means more convenience for us.” he said, “on the other hand, shopping methods are in line with international practice. For example,more big shopping malls like Metro and IKEA, which meet the western shopping habits, settle in Chongqing. Daily necessities of Europeans like cheese and bread could be bought more easily.”

The Belt and Road Initiative docks with the policy of“Opening to the East” in Hungary

In June 2015, Hungary signed to build the Belt and Road intergovernmental memorandum of understanding with China,who is the fi rst country that participates into the initiative in the EU countries. This marks the successful docking between the Belt and Road Initiative and the policy of “Opening to the East” in Hungary.Mr. Dióssi Lóránd introduced that same as Chongqing, the automobile and electronic information industries are the two pillars of Hungary, which is the reason for the good development of bilateral trade. BOE, Inventec, PEG?TRON Technology, Changan Ford and a large number of enterprises in Chongqing and Hungarian enterprises have maintain close trade contacts in a long term.

On April 15, “Chongqing-Hungary” train of China Express was launched and arrived in Budapest successfully, which further enhanced the radiation force of Chongqing in more than 30 cities in Central and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, South Europe and North Africa. Hungary is eager to become a logistics operation center of “Chongqing-Sinkiang-Europe” in the Central and Eastern Europe.

Since this year, leaders of Hungary and China have led frequent high-level visits. The visit to Chongqing paid by Hungarian leaders is also unprecedented frequent. On May 16, a economic and trade delegation of more than 120 people headed by SZIJJáRTó Péter,Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary visited Chongqing and attended the “China-Hungary SME Cross-border Investment and Trade Affair” and the opening ceremony of the 2nd Western China Spring of Budapest. They also paid a visit to Sichuan International Studies University. From June 21 to 25, JAKAB István,Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament attended the 20th CCISF who is the foreign leader of the highest level. As one of the two guest countries set up by CCISF for the fi rst time, Hungary sent a number of enterprises to participate in the exhibition. Speaker JAKAB István also met Li Dianxun, director of Chongqing Science and Technology Committee. The two sides exchanged ideas on the cooperation of construction of “China(Chongqing)-Hungary technology transfer center”.

Chongqing Opportunities: Richer exchanges in economy,trade and culture

On May 16, “China-Hungary SME Cross-border Investment and Trade Fair” was held by Chongqing Municipal Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary. Mr. Dióssi Lóránd said that since Hungary paid much attention to this visit to China, the largest commercial delegation and more than 120 enterprises came to Chongqing to communicate with Chongqing enterprises. Several special promotions were held in investment, trade, tourism, green innovation technology, medical hot springs.

In 2011, Chongqing was awarded the tile of “City of Hot Spring in the World” while Budapest is the fi rst city who gets this title. In this fair, hot spring becomes one of the key projects built by the two sides. “Memorandum of Cooperation” was signed separately by Hungarian National Trade Agency, Government of Ba'nan District,LONCIN Holdings Limited and Hakone Springs Group to carry out the strategic cooperation on medical hot spring, which could be called as a model of cooperation in hot spring under the initiative of the Belt and Road.

At present, the two sides have reached an agreement and will carry out multi-level cooperation, especially in medical hot springs technology. Relying on the Eastern Hot Spring hot cave and the Hungarian hot spring technology, they will build the fi rst cave hot spring and then a tourism resort organically combined with tourism,health and medical care.

Mr. Dióssi Lóránd mentioned that “Spring of Budapest”, which is of a long history and the most well-known cultural activity in Hungary,was held again in Chongqing in this year. Chongqing citizens get to know about Hungary through the Hungarian song and dance,musical instrument and ethnic art. Meanwhile, Chongqing Sichuan Opera Theatre has visited Hungary twice. “Sichuan Opera is very popular in Hungary. The show is so hot that it is hard to get a ticket.” he said, “there is a good interaction between Sichuan Opera and Hungarian operetta. I hope the exchanges and cultural visits would be richer between two sides.”

(The unnamed pictures are all authorized by the Hungarian Consulate General in Chongqing. The copyright is owned by the original author and shall not be reproduced without permission.)