Foreign Minister: Hungary foreign policy successfully promotes investment
Budapest, June 18 (MTI) – Hungary’s foreign policy has been a success in terms of investment promotion, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday.
Speaking at a conference organised by the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), Szijjarto said the agency was “the second most successful investment agency in central Europe last year” as it brokered a total of 60 investments. The minister said 32 of the agreements negotiated by HIPA were made with new investors, while 28 of the deals with companies already doing business in Hungary.
Szijjarto said the investments were worth approximately 508 billion forints (EUR 1.66bn) and contributed to Hungary having the highest FDI in central Europe.
HIPA has completed 27 investment deals, worth 548.8 million euros, in 2015 so far, the minister said, adding that the investments would create a total of 5,597 new jobs, a 40.2 percent increase over the same period last year. The minister said 14 of the 27 agreements signed this year were with new investors.
Szijjarto said Germany and the US continued to make investments in Hungary, with six Germany-based and six US-based companies having signed agreements with HIPA this year. Some 6,000 German companies employ around 300,000 people, he said, adding that Germany’s investments in Hungary are worth nearly 20 billion euros.
Szijjarto said there are 1,750 US-based firms doing business in Hungary employing 90,000 people. American companies have invested 9 billion dollars in Hungary (EUR 7.9bn), he added. Szijjarto said this investment volume indicates that economic relations between Hungary and the US “continue to be a success story”, and expressed hopes that political relations between the two countries would soon become just as smooth as economic ties.
The minister said the automotive industry and the services sector were the leading areas of investment. Auto industry output now makes up more than 30 percent of the total process industry output, he added.
Szijjarto highlighted the importance of the assistance HIPA’s activities provide for small and medium-sized enterprises. He said 61 percent of the government’s 59 strategic corporate partners have supplier agreements with Hungarian SMEs.
Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters