Bank of China launches RMB clearing center in Budapest

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Bank of China Chairman Tian Guoli attend a ceremony to launch the Renminbi (RMB) clearing center of the Bank of China, in Budapest, Oct 2, 2015. Bank of China officially launched its Renminbi (RMB) clearing center in Budapest on Friday. [Photo/Xinhua]

BUDAPEST -- Bank of China officially launched its Renminbi (RMB) clearing center in Budapest on Friday.

The ceremony was attended by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Bank of China Chairman Tian Guoli, Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong, Hungarian national economy minister Mihaly Varga and other dignitaries.

Addressing the gathering, Tian pointed to the potential benefits of economic cooperation between China and Hungary. By setting up the clearing center Bank of China hopes to boost trade with Hungary, he said.

By this means, enterprises could focus on their products and projects, with less worry about remittance and less remittance costs, Tian said, adding that there is a huge demand on utilization of RMB in investment and trading activities conducted by enterprises in both countries.

On his part, Orban underlined Hungary's potential to become the growth center of Central Europe.

There is a good reason why China chose Budapest as its regional center, he noted.

Orban said that the new center reinforced a win-win alliance and he envisaged the birth of a "new Silk Road" between China and Hungary, and all of Central Europe.

The move follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the People's Bank of China and Hungary's central bank in Budapest in June of 2015.

This is the first RMB clearing center in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). At this time China is Hungary's biggest non-European Union trading partner and total Chinese investment in Hungary to date amounts to more than 3.5 billion U.S. dollars. Hungary, on its part, is China's top CEE trading partner.

Bank of China has operated a subsidiary in Hungary since 2003 and has maintained a full-fledged branch in Budapest since 2014.