The Prime Minister and several members of the Government plan to visit China this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi said on Tuesday.

A visit by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is scheduled in the first half of 2013, Minister Martonyi said in a written reply to a Socialist lawmaker's inquiry posted on Parliament's website.

A meeting of the Hungarian-Chinese joint economic committee, attended by co-chair Minister of National Economy Matolcsy, will take place concurrently.

Deputy State Secretary for bilateral affairs Gergely Prőhle, is currently in China, visiting Beijing and Shanghai. In 2013 Deputy State Secretary for Global Affairs Szabolcs Takács will also hold talks in Beijing, while a visit by Minister of State for Health at the Human Resources Ministry Miklós Szócska, as well as by Minister of State for Justice Róbert Répássy are to take place later in the year.

Officials of the Ministry of Rural Development are scheduled to attend the next meeting of the Hungarian-Chinese agricultural working group, as well as the 8th China-Central Europe Agricultural and Trade Forum. These visits serve to fulfil the foreign policy strategy of global opening, announced by the Government in 2010, giving special focus to boosting relations with the East, Minister Martonyi said.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)