Vol. 2 (2019)

THE PAST AND THE FUTURE OF HUNGARY'S DIPLOMATIC
AND TRADE RELATIONS WITH EAST ASIA 

It is my sincere pleasure to recommend to you our newly published book which comprises a selection of the best papers of PhD students attending the conference on February 18, 2019 organized by the Oriental Business and Innovation Centre (OBIC) of Budapest Business School on the triple anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hungary and Japan, China and the Republic of Korea.

In 2019 we can look back over one and a half centuries to when Hungary established diplomatic relations with Japan. In 1949, Hungary was one of the first states to recognize the People's Republic of China and in 1989, on the eve of the change of the political and economic system and just shortly after the International Olympic Games in Seoul, Hungary was the very first country of the once socialist bloc to establish a diplomatic relationship with the Republic of Korea.

The horizon and the prospective of the future co-operation between Asia and Europe, including Hungary seem to be unlimited. A new generation of free trade agreements facilitates the trade between the European Union and Japan and also with the Republic of Korea, but we can also talk about new generations of professionals, including our students, who are travelling more and more to Asia or starting to learn Chinese, Japanese, Korean or other Asian languages. My vision is that in one or two decades, hundreds of Hungarian businessmen, engineers, medical doctors and other professionals will be fluent in Asian languages, not just attained to get well paid jobs at Asian companies, but they will be the catalysts of the future enhancement of the friendly relations between Hungary and Asian nations.

This book comprises seven studies covering various parts of the broad field of Hungaro-Asian relationships and co-operation. I sincerely hope that the esteemed reader will find these studies not just interesting but also beneficial. The results and conclusions may provide the reader with new ideas that could be starting points for further discussions and research.

Online available form of the book: