Viktor Orbán to speak at Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, where Putin will also be attending

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will give a speech at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing next Wednesday, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister's Press Chief has confirmed to Telex. We sent questions to Bertalan Havasi after Politico reported that the Hungarian Prime Minister had accepted an invitation to attend the Chinese forum, where Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be present. According to the paper, the Hungarian Prime Minister will be the only EU leader attending the event.

"Next Wednesday, the Prime Minister will attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, where he will also be speaking. Before that, on Monday and Tuesday, he is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Chinese leaders, first with the prime minister and then with the head of state," Havasi wrote in response to our inquiry.

Politico writes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has also accepted the invitation of the Belt and Road Forum, so the Hungarian Prime Minister might even meet with him. Bertalan Havasi did not reply to our question on whether Viktor Orbán would hold a meeting with the Russian President while in Beijing.

China announced its "Belt and Road" foreign investment programme (initially called the New Silk Road) in 2013 with the promise of revitalising Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and more recently Latin America and the Balkans, through infrastructure investments financed by loans from Chinese state banks and generally carried out by Chinese investors.