Hungary meeting point for eastern and western investors

Hungary greatly benefits from the strong cooperation between Chinese and German carmakers, “which guarantees economic growth despite all uncertainties and crises,” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Munich on Tuesday.

In his address at international mobility exhibition IAA (Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung), Szijjártó said “if there is one country in the world whose economy is determined by car making, that is clearly Hungary,” according to a statment from the foreign ministry.

Car manufacturing accounts for one third of Hungary’s industrial output, worth EUR 30 billion last year and with exports totalling EUR 20 billion, the minister said. He added that the sector employed 170,000 people in Hungary.

Meanwhile, though western European carmakers developed the best electric cars, the necessary batteries were produced by eastern companies, he said. “This is the first time that western European companies of a leading sector have become totally dependent on eastern suppliers,” he said, and adding: “Hungary has become an important meeting point for eastern and western investors”.