Belgian-owned Delaware to open new office in Hungary

It is Hungary’s interest to have as many software developers set up business in Hungary as possible, and the government is making every effort to offer the best relevant conditions, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.

The ministry cited Szijjarto as telling an event where Belgian-owned company Delaware announced the opening of a new office in Debrecen, eastern Hungary, that government support for the 2.7 billion forint (EUR 7.2m) project amounted to almost 600 million forints (EUR 1.6m). The opening of the new office, the company’s second one in Hungary after Budapest, initially will create 70 jobs, he added.

As a result of the investment, many young people will get long-term career opportunities and they will be able to use their internationally valuable skills in Hungary, Szijjarto said. There are an increasing number of jobs in Hungary that offer an alternative to working abroad in terms of payment, prestige, variety and technological advancement, he added.

“The sector plays an important role in keeping highly-skilled, multilingual people who would easily find work abroad in the home market,” he said.

“National economies that can support companies putting to use cutting-edge digital and IT methods and new company management systems will be truly successful in the long term,” he added.

He said big efforts were being made to offer the best conditions to attract companies involved in software development, citing the development of the 5G network, increasing internet coverage to 90 percent and some of the lowest taxes in Europe.

Last year alone, the state-supported twenty investments that have created high value-added, resulting in a total 2,500 jobs, he added. Hungary’s IT sector employs some 175,000 people, while the sector’s production value increased by 10 percent last year to over 3,600 billion forints, a record, Szijjarto said. “All signs show that the impetus will continue this year,” he added.