"Hungary's natural conditions are excellent for agricultural production, all requirements are given for us to provide high quality foods to the Chinese economy, which relies heavily on imports", said State Secretary Endre Kardeván at the opening of his two-day meeting with experts from the Chinese Quarantine Agency at the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development. The meeting may lead to closer cooperation with the Chinese agency and to the opening of a regional office in Budapest.

Agricultural trade between Hungary and China may become more fluent if the Chinese Quarantine Agency responsible for food exports and imports and for food safety opens a regional office in Hungary. This was just one of the topics on the agenda at the meeting today between the Ministry of Rural Development's State Secretary for Food Chain Control Supervision and Agricultural Economy and the head of the Chinese delegation Lin Wei.

"Hungary's natural conditions are excellent, and we would like to supply increased Chinese demand for high quality foods with increased exports", emphasised Endre Kardeván, who also told reporters that the series of meetings that have been held during the past two years have been paving the way for increased food exports. More lively food trade between Hungary and China may open the way for the development of trade between the two countries.

20% of the world population live in China, and supplying the people with food is one of the state's greatest tasks. Chinese agriculture is currently only capable of providing half of the food required to supply its 1.3 billion population, and so the country is in need of continuous imports. This provides the basis for the dynamic development of agricultural cooperation.

"Last year, economic cooperation between China and Hungary jumped dramatically compared to earlier figures, achieving a twenty-three fold increase to reach a total of USD 9.2 billion. Only USD 34 million of this was provided by the food trade, which still holds unexploited opportunities", said Lin Wei. "Demand for high quality products has also increased within China. This increasing demand may form the basis for the strengthening of ties between the two countries and for an increase in economic cooperation", said the head of the Chinese delegation.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)