Hungary finance minister has talks with Amazon, Tesla, Boeing leaders

During his current visit to the United States, Finance Minister Mihály Varga had talks with vice-presidents of online trading company Amazon, the finance ministry said on Friday. Varga has also visited Tesla’s headquarters in Fremont, California.

Hungary is committed to maintaining close bilateral trade ties with the US, the ministry said in a statement citing Varga, adding that

last year bilateral trade turnover had reached over 5.4 billion dollars, while Hungary posted a one billion dollar surplus in 2017.

Varga told Amazon leaders that the volume of online retail trade in Hungary was up 28 percent in 2017, accounting for a total turnover of nearly 400 billion forints (EUR 1.2bn). This suggests the sector offers further opportunities for expansion, he said. The Hungarian government expects long-term economic development and a two-digit wage increase, supporting steady growth in domestic consumption and retail trade, the statement said.

Varga also paid a visit to the Boeing Group.

He noted that the Hungarian government had contributed a large sum to the engineering unit of Germany’s Diehl plant in Debrecen, which is a top supplier of airplane parts, including to Boeing. Hungary is committed to the R+D and the development of high value-added products in particular, he added.

Varga has talks at Tesla headquarters in California

Thursday Varga has visited Tesla’s headquarters in Fremont, California.

The statement quoted the minister as saying during the talks that the US is Hungary’s second largest investor. “American companies like Hungary,” Varga said, and added that some 1,500 US-managed businesses were active in Hungary employing a total 100,000 people.

The minister said that Hungary’s vehicle industry employed some 177,000 people and had an annual turnover of 8,000 billion forints (EUR 25bn) last year, accounting for nearly one third of Hungary’s total industrial production.

“Hungary wants to retain its strong position in car making and is interested in importing progressive technologies,” the ministry quoted Varga as saying.

As we wrote before, the global autos industry is entering a new phase, posing special challenges for countries such as Hungary where the sector is crucial for the national economy, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in San Francisco after meeting Tesla leaders and representatives of over 20 IT and communications companies, read more HERE.

And a cute idea: Ökovifalu is the only kindergarten in the world with a self-sustaining mini town in the yards. The main attraction of this kindergarten will be the electric mini-Teslas. Children will be taught the rules of traffic with the help of these cars, read more HERE.

Source: MTI