(Bloomberg) — President Xi Jinping is set to announce a range of new investments in Budapest as he touts Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Hungary as a model for what the European Union’s relationship could look like with the world’s second-largest economy.

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Xi was received by President Tamas Sulyok on Thursday on the final leg of his trip to Europe in five years, following stops in France and Serbia. During a meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orban he’s expected to announce more than a dozen deals covering rail, road and energy projects. Hungary’s cash-strapped government is also looking to lock in financing for some of the investments.

China’s president is urging Europe to work with him to overcome trade tensions that threaten to derail a global economic recovery, holding up Hungary as an European Union member where Beijing has managed to create a “strong, fruitful and dynamic” relationship.

“Our two countries need to lead regional cooperation and keep to the right direction of China-Europe relations,” Xi said in an op-ed published in the Hungarian ruling party’s newspaper Magyar Nemzet on Wednesday.

The comments coincide with growing tension between Beijing and Brussels, with Western European leaders accusing Xi’s government of flooding their markets with cheap exports that threaten jobs. Xi’s support for Russia despite its war in Ukraine has thrown the relationship further off balance.

Hungary has gone all-in on economic links with China under Orban’s leadership, attracting an estimated close to €10 billion ($10.8 billion) in planned or ongoing investments in recent years, mostly in the electronic vehicle industry.

BYD Co., the Chinese EV giant, picked Hungary as the site of its first European car factory, edging out the likes of Germany and France, which had also coveted the investment. Hungary is also a hub for car battery producers, with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. currently building a €7.3 billion plant in the eastern city of Debrecen.

The meetings in Budapest will hone in on expanding China’s economic footprint, much as they did in Serbia, Hungary’s southern neighbor. The costly upgrade of an aging rail network and the construction of a long-delayed connection between Budapest Airport and the capital’s downtown are among the projects under discussion.

Those may complement a multi-billion dollar rail track modernization between Belgrade and Budapest that’s under construction as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s global infrastructure project. Hungary is the only EU nation that’s still a part of the initiative.

Orban has frequently clashed with the US and the EU over the rule of law, as well as close ties to Russia and China, and has rejected Western pressure to reduce links with Beijing or to back a more critical approach on trade and human rights. One particularly sensitive area is telecommunications, where the US has alleged Huawei Technologies Co. poses a national security risk for countries using its equipment.

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Huawei and 4iG Nyrt., which Orban is grooming to become Hungary’s national champion in the telecom sector, will sign a joint statement on Friday, the Economy Ministry said in an emailed invitation. Minister Marton Nagy has said there was a need to deepen cooperation with Huawei to advance digitalization in the country.

“Hungary’s position is firm: in order to maintain and improve competitiveness, both our country and Europe need to foster good relations with China,” Balazs Orban, the Hungarian premier’s chief political adviser, wrote on X. “Instead of decoupling, we should aim for cooperation.”

During his earlier stay in Belgrade, Xi bolstered economic and political ties with another country that’s thrown open its arms to Chinese trade and investment. He signed a free-trade deal with Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, who expects infrastructure investment with Chinese support worth as much as $27 billion.

Xi started his tour of Europe in France, where he held talks with President Emmanuel Macron as the EU takes a tougher stance on China’s perceived national security risks. Xi also met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who told him that the EU is prepared to deploy all tools available to defend its economies if China fails to offer fair access to its markets.

–With assistance from Andras Gergely and Marton Kasnyik.

(Updates with Huawei event in 11th paragraph.)

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