Szijjarto Meets Heads of US Businesses

Washington, DC (MTI) – Szijjarto told MTI after meeting US company heads on Tuesday that US-Hungarian economic cooperation was a “success story” in bilateral relations, and the government was making every effort to provide the most attractive investment environment in Europe.

He said General Motors representatives assured him of their high satisfaction with the operating environment in Hungary, where the firm, as part of its Opel division, has Europe’s most modern engine factory.

“The car industry remains a flagship in Hungary and Hungary continues to be a citadel for the car industry,” he added.

He said several infrastructure development projects, such as road construction, have been started at the request of GM’s European officials to improve public road access to the Opel plant in Szentgotthard, in west Hungary, in consideration of further possible investment. He added that engineer training was starting in nearby Szombathely to ensure a sufficient supply of professional workers for industrial companies in the region.

Szijjarto said he had also met General Electric top officials. GE is the largest commercial employer in Hungary, with over 13,500 employees in the country. Szijjarto handed over Hungary’s Order of Merit Commander Cross to GE Vice-President Skip Warner in recognition of the company’s contribution to promoting Hungarian-US cooperation.

He told NBC Universal and Comcast leaders about the changes Hungary introduced to develop its film industry and briefed them about the improved conditions in the industry.

Szijjarto held a presentation to 15 company leaders at the Business Council for International Understanding, BCIU.

He noted that Hungary had increased is foreign trade by 23 percent last year, and during the first seven months of this year, exports to the US had grown by 41 percent. Total US investment in Hungary exceeds 9 billion dollars and more than 83,000 Hungarians are employed by US companies, he added.

Szijjarto also held talks with Kurt Walker, former NATO ambassador and head of the McCain Institute.

Photo: MTI/Tamas Szemann

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters