On October 31 (UTC+1), President Xu Ningsheng met with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán during his visit to the country. Also attending the meeting were officials from both sides, including Cecilia Szilas, advisor on Chinese affairs at the Prime Minister's Office and Former Hungarian Ambassador to China, Levente Horvath, general adviser to the governor of the Central B ank of Hungary, Duan Jielong, Chinese Ambassador to Hungary, Wu Libo, Director of Fudan University Department of Development Planning, Lu Li’an, Director of Fudan University Office of Global Partnerships, and Li Dan, Deputy Director of Fudan University Office of Global Partnerships.
Prime minister Viktor Orbán extended a warm welcome to the Fudan University delegation. He said, Hungary values human resources and therefore is happy to support Fudan University in setting up an overseas campus in Budapest. He believed that this would greatly enhance cultural exchanges between the two countries and its significance will transcend merely a cultural and educational collaborative effort, as it will serve as one more example of China and Hungary joining hands for a better future.
President Xu thanked Orbán for his support for Fudan’s exploratory operations in Hungary and invited him to visit Fudan University in the near future. Xu also briefed the prime minister on the recent breakthroughs of Fudan University. The two sides discussed the plan to set up Fudan's overseas campus and reached a consensus that the two sides would cooperate to expedite the process.
On the same day, President Xu met with Laszlo Palkovics, Hungarian minister of Innovation and Technology. Palkovics welcomed Fudan’s presence in Hungary as it will offer Hungarian students global insights. Minister Palkovics hoped that Fudan’s campus in Budapest could offer curriculum on big data, science and technology, finance, language and cultures, etc., and he promised to provide strong support for the facilities, funding and syllabus. He looked forward to visiting Fudan University later this year to discuss the specifics.
During his stay in Hungary, President Xu attended the Pre-Shanghai Forum Session of the Budapest Eurasia Forum, hosted by the Hungarian Central Bank, and met with its governor György Matolcsy, who has been facilitating the cooperation of Fudan University and the Hungarian Government. Xu also met with officials at Corvinus University of Budapest, including President Anthony Radev, and Chancellor Lívia Pavlik, and expressed the intention of Fudan University to continue to strengthen cooperation with the university.
