China has welcomed Hungary’s decision to start issuing five-year multiple-entry visas for Chinese businesspeople.
Speaking at a press conference, the spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, said that this decision shows the two countries’ commitment to strengthening their relations and further enhancing tourism, economic, and cultural exchanges, VisaGuide.World reports.
As revealed by the Chinese government, the Foreign Affairs Minister of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó, said that the country will now issue five-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese companies’ executives that invest in the country as well as to those cooperating with Hungarian companies.
The decision of Hungary to facilitate the visa issuance for this group of Chinese nationals comes immediately after China dropped the visa requirement for Hungarians entering the country for short stays.
Welcoming this facilitation, Wenbin said that the move will help both countries to have fruitful cooperation in various fields.
Wenbin further stressed that visa facilitation will promote personnel exchanges between China and Hungary and will help the countries strengthen their relationship.
We believe that these measures will further promote personnel exchanges between the two sides, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, and push bilateral relations to a higher level of development.
Additionally, Wenbin highlighted that China welcomes other countries to start providing facilitated visa rules aimed at promoting personnel exchanges.
China Just Recently Dropped Visa Requirement for 6 EU Countries
Just last week, China decided to lift the visa requirement for an additional six European Union countries – Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
Passport holders of these six countries can now enter China visa-free for stays of up to 15 days for tourism, business, visiting, and transit purposes.
By lifting the visa requirement for these countries, China said that it wants to provide smooth travel. The country also wants to attract more visitors and help its travel and tourism industry recover from the COVID-19 effects.
China started to ease its visa and entry rules last year. At the end of 2023, China removed entry visas for France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia.
This move proved to be very effective in helping with the revival of the travel and tourism industry as 118,000 foreign visitors from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia entered China in December 2023 alone.
The country expects to see an even higher number of visitors this year, especially during the warmer months.