CASS President Wang Weiguang delivers an address at the Workshop on Hungary and RMB Internationalization held in Budapest, Hungary, on Nov. 17. (PHOTO: CSSN)

---

 

The Workshop on Hungary and RMB Internationalization was held in Budapest, Hungary, on Nov. 17.

Co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the China-CEE Institute and the Central Bank of Hungary, the meeting gathered about 70 scholars from China and countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Attendees discussed such topics as RMB internationalization and financial reform, RMB internationalization in Europe, and China-Hungary financial cooperation in the context of Central and Eastern Europe. 

In his remarks to the meeting, CASS President Wang Weiguang said that in recent years, China and Hungary have made progress in financial cooperation in such aspects as RMB internationalization. In the 1990s, the Bank of China became China’s first financial institution in Central and Eastern Europe when it opened a branch in Budapest. This autumn, OTP Bank, the largest bank in Hungary, established a branch in Beijing, marking the first time that a bank from the region has been opened in China, Wang said.

In September 2013, China signed a bilateral currency-swap agreement with Hungary worth up to 10 billion RMB. In 2016, this agreement was renewed. In the same year, Hungary issued RMB-denominated bonds in Hong Kong. It is the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to issue dim sum bonds. Later on, Hungary also issued RMB bonds on the Chinese mainland, he said.

These are signs of the deep, thriving cooperation between China and Hungary in finance. Through the workshop, scholars and think tanks in the two countries are expected to further explore future cooperative space and realms, Wang said.

Matolcsy Gyorgy, president of the Central Bank of Hungary, noted in his address that RMB internationalization is vital to Hungary. Cooperative research conducted between the Central Bank of Hungary and the China-CEE Institute in the field of RMB internationalization will further push forward the process of RMB internationalization in Hungary.

 

This article was translated from People’s Daily Online.