"Economic experts and political players of Shaanxi Province (40 million inhabitants) consider the relatively small Csongrád County (400,000 inhabitants) promising. Our geopolitical capacity, that is the triple border can be the gateway to Europe for the Chinese partners", explains Béla Kakas, President of the General Assembly of Csongrád County, about his Chinese visit.
Csongrád County and Shaanxi Province have been sister counties for 23 years. The parties have been pruning this beautiful tree for 23 years and now they want to see and will see fruit, describes president Béla Kakas. Moreover, Hszian, the seat of Shaanxi Province is the sister city of Szeged, which means that our region is bound to the province by several threads.
Last summer the delegation of the high-rank leadership of Shaanxi made a visit at the County Government of Csongrád. The delegation was led by Lou Qinjian, provincial secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, secretary of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress. As Béla Kakas remarked, the geopolitical features of our county were pointed out during the discussions: thanks to the triple border, this region could be the gateway to Europe for Chinese partners. Food industry was represented through companies. Moreover, the University of Szeged and within that the Confucius Institute were also presented. This latter was established by the cooperation of the University of Szeged and the University of International Studies of Shanghai and it has been operating successfully since then. Values of our county include the ELI Laser Research Centre, major scientific investment of the European Union, which can play an important role in the future cooperation.
This time the dynamically developing central province (of 40 million inhabitants) of the People’s Republic of China received the delegation of Csongrád County led by president Béla Kakas who held presentations on the investment opportunities of the county at several professional and business events and exhibitions. The president explained to SZEGEDma.hu that the current visit focused on the Chinese president’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy. This strategy means the redrawing of the thousands of years old Chinese Silk Way. Csongrád County and the province could meet again within the framework of a conference. “This event was accompanied by an exhibition featuring hundreds of participants, and at which our county also presented its values”, explained Béla Kakas. He recalled Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit and participation at the “One Belt, One Road” international forum in Beijing, by which the Chinese government raised the Chinese-Hungarian bilateral cooperation to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership. “If we divide the countries along the Silk Road into belts, then it will map our vision of future as a single road. This is the background of “One Belt, One Road” which includes the creation or renewal of roads, reconnecting the states along the Great Silk Road”, explained Béla Kakas, President of the General Assembly of Csongrád County.
The President of the General Assembly gave presentations in four cities of Shaanxi province, demonstrating the characteristics of Hungary and Csongrád County. He explained that investors are interested in economic stability, public debt, GDP and tax policy. “I pointed out that Hungary is well-suited for investment, which is supported by the ratings, and it is open to accept Chinese investors. We are a good target area for those who also see partners in us, because mutual interests, open and honest relations can be the basis of the One Belt, One Road program”, emphasized Béla Kakas. He noted that the 23-year-old sister county relationship won the recognition of the hosts everywhere, and he feels that presentations and discussions have laid the foundations for a closer cooperation in the future.
“At conferences and introductory programs, we got acquainted with entrepreneurs, well-prospering big companies, we got to know their health-related vision of future, moreover, we had discussion about education and common visions with the University of Szeged. In the field of agriculture, besides the project on industrial hemp production in the Carpathian Basin, the joint pilot project with Senta (Voivodina) on industrial hemp growing attracted their interest so much that we need to come up with a factory building business plan”, explained Béla Kakas.
To our question whether the differences of scale can cause problems, namely that Shaanxi province has 40 million inhabitants, while Csongrád County has only 400 thousand, the president answered that it is unnoticeable because the Chinese take every chance seriously. “In this regard, I pointed out that Hungary is a beautiful small country, Csongrád County is a valuable area within it, and this small country can open a huge gate towards Europe. This is taken very seriously in China where no development or cooperation opportunity is neglected, and how or on what fields the two regions can connect in practice in spite of the scale difference, the future will bring forth”, he said.
Béla Kakas emphasized the importance of further strengthening the provincial relationship in the near future. As he said, several provinces consider Csongrád County promising so they even need to select among partners. "I consider a weighted provincial cooperation important to discover a collaborative system that is linked to the industrial hemp chain, to education, for example through the Confucius Institute, or to the laser research.” The first step will be a return visit with 5 politicians and 15 businessmen visiting us, then the next conference of “One Belt, One Road” will be held in September which we are attending as an exhibitor to present professionally the features of Hungary and within that Csongrád County.” Béla Kakas also writes a report about his Chinese visit for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade led by Péter Szijjártó. This report informs about the negotiations so that the ideas of Csongrád County can be placed in the Hungarian target system, which aims to maintain the closest possible connection with the Southeast Asian region.
Source: SZEGEDma.hu