“Spanish company F. Segura will be realising a 4.2 billion-forint (EUR 13.2 million) efficiency-increasing and capacity-increasing investment project at its plant in Szolnok, The latest development project by the automotive industry parts manufacturer will create 80 new workplaces”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference in Budapest.

“The development project represents high added value and a state-of-the-art level of technology, and accordingly the Government is providing one billion forints in non-returnable funding to the company”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “The significance of the Hungarian investment is indicated by the fact that the Segura Group only maintains production units in Spain, China and Szolnok”, he added.

“Segura’s investment is not only significant in international comparison, but also from the perspective of the Hungarian automotive industry, in view of the fact that the products manufactured in the Szolnok plant are not only used by the suppliers of Audi and Mercedes, which have factories in Hungary, and by BMW, which is preparing to open one, but also by Jaguar, which is establishing an engineering centre here”, the politician said. “There are 270 Spanish companies operating in Hungary, providing jobs to over 4500 people. Trade flow between the two countries exceeded 4.5 billion euros last year, making Spain one of Hungary’s 15 most important foreign trade partners”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade highlighted the fact that the backbone of the Hungarian economy is provided by the automotive industry, as confirmed by the fact that last year the sector generated a production value of 8556 billion forints (EUR 27bn), a year-on-year increase of 6 percent.

“The competitiveness of the sector, in which 174 thousand people are employed in Hungary, is corroborated by the fact that 90.9 percent of the automotive industry products manufactured in Hungary are exported”, he added.

“Accordingly, it is of key importance from the perspective of the development of the Hungarian economy that the large automotive industry companies that are dictating the tempo of the transition to the modern era perform the investments required for this technological transition here in Hungary”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

President of F. Segura Hungária Limited Francisco Segura Hervás told reporters that a cloud-based solution will come about as a result of the investment, in which intelligent instruments are pooled. “The investment is required because ‘we are living through the 4th industrial revolution’, and in the new era, digital strategies are determining who will be successful in the future”, he said.

Mayor of Szolnok Ferenc Szalay expressed his thanks to the Spanish company for having chosen the city as the site of its investment over a decade ago, thanks to which the region has “regained its self-confidence”.

(MTI)