Hungary to invest 100 million euros in China's central and eastern Europe fund

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Hungarian Export-Import Bank will contribute 100 million euros (£88 million) to China's government-backed SINO-CEE Fund, which aims to raise a total of 10 billion euros, the fund said.

Among the nations of eastern and central Europe, Hungary has attracted the largest amount of Chinese investment.

The Hungarian government's subscription is "a major step", as the Chinese fund expects its investment in Hungary to exceed 300 million euros, the fund said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Fund chairman Jiang Jianqing and the chief executive of Hungarian Eximbank, Zoltan Urban, signed the pact on Tuesday, during an official visit to Hungary by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

China set up the fund last year to finance projects in central and eastern Europe as part of its ambitious Belt and Road initiative, kicked off by President Xi Jinping.

Fund chairman Jiang is a former chairman of China's largest bank by assets, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (1398.HK).

(Reporting by Shu Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)