On 18 October 2024, Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy visited Bucharest, where he met with Stefan-Radu Oprea, Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism of Romania; during which they reviewed the state of economic relations between the two countries, the existing cooperation opportunities in the fields of business and industrial development and digitalization, as well as current events related to Liberty Steel.
The Minister also participated and gave a speech at the opening ceremony of the new base of Aeroplex Central European Aircraft Technical Center Ltd. in Bucharest. In his speech, Márton Nagy highlighted that aviation has a constantly growing role in strengthening the economic connectivity of countries and increasing their competitiveness. In the spring of 2024, Aeroplex signed a cooperation agreement with the Romanian company ROMAERO, which has a significant history, under which Aeroplex will provide maintenance for its customers using ROMAERO's infrastructure, facilities, equipment and team of professionals located at Bucharest Băneasa Airport.
In his speech, Minister Nagy Márton emphasized that the opening of Aeroplex's Bucharest base is a milestone in the history of Central and Eastern European aviation and an important event in the bilateral economic relations between Hungary and Romania. The opening of Aeroplex's Bucharest base is an integral part of the company's growth strategy, as its presence in Romania will allow it to increase its skilled workforce and gain a position in a new market. The Romanian market is of outstanding importance: Romania has 17 international airports and 11 airlines are headquartered here, which creates significant expansion opportunities. As part of Aeroplex's regional expansion strategy, additional logistics centers may be established in several parts of the country, including in Târgu Mureș and Cluj-Napoca.
The operation of the Bucharest base will contribute to the growth of Hungarian exports and, thus, to the further improvement of our country's foreign trade balance. Romania was Hungary's 7th most important trading partner in 2023, accounting for 4 percent of total Hungarian foreign trade. It ranked 3rd in our country's exports with a 5 percent share, and 12th in imports with a 3 percent share. In 2023, Romania was the 4th most important destination country for Hungarian capital, with the value of capital flowing there amounting to 2.8 billion euros, which represented 6.5 percent of the total Hungarian capital stock directed abroad.
In 2023, more than 546 thousand Romanian guests spent a total of about 1.17 million guest nights in Hungary.
