The first China-Europe freight train from the Yangtze River Delta region to Hungary departing from Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang Province for Budapest on June 7, 2021. Photo: VCG

Bank of China's branch in Hungary has successfully completed the international issuance of $300 million green bonds with a maturity term of two years, marking the first green bond issued by a Chinese institution in central and Eastern Europe.

Green bonds are an emerging bond in the international market raised to support green projects with environmental benefits, which play an important role in supporting the infrastructure construction for participating countries and regions in the field of green environmental protection. The funds raised from the green bonds issued in Hungary will mainly be used for photovoltaic power generation, sewage treatment and other projects.

Cooperation between China and Hungary in the field of green finance has experienced rapid growth. Last December, Hungary issued a 1 billion yuan ($158 million) in green sovereign Panda bonds in China, becoming the first country to issue yuan-denominated green bonds in China.

"Developing green finance is an important part of Belt and Road cooperation. Bank of China's issue of green bonds in Hungary will actively promote green transformation and upgrading in central and Eastern Europe, and fully support customers in the region in implementing green strategies with high-quality financial services," Li Kexin, President of Bank of China's Hungary Branch said.

China and Hungary have achieved notable results in green cooperation. The Chinese-built solar power plant in Kaposvar, Hungary can reduce the consumption of standard coal by 45,000 tons and carbon dioxide emission by more than 100,000 tons per year. An electric bus and truck factory invested by Chinese new energy vehicle brand BYD in Hungary accounts for than 20 percent market share of pure electric buses in Europe. 

Liu Bo, an official with the Economic and Commercial Office for the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, said that China-Hungary green cooperation has made new breakthroughs and achieved new results, which will further promote the high-quality development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.