“Hundreds of millions of euros in investment will be arriving in Hungary from South Korea in the coming months”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Monday during an official visit to Seoul.

Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that last year was a special year with relation to foreign investment in Hungary, in view of the fact that for the first time in decades the largest number of investments did not arrive from Germany, but from South Korea. He said the main reason for this was were the decisions by the largest South Korean electric battery manufacturers to bring the world’s largest electric battery plants to Hungary. “These Korean enterprises are extremely satisfied with conditions in Hungary, are particularly appreciative of the political stability and of the Hungarian people’s love of work, expertise and diligence, and of the lowest taxes in Europe, and especially Europe’s lowest rate of corporation tax”. the Minister declared. He also underlined the fact that several South Korean corporations active within the field of electric vehicles have also decided to realise further investments in Hungary, meaning hundreds of millions of euros of new investment in Hungary this year alone. “As a result, Hungary can proudly state that it has not only been one of the bastions of the European automotive industry during the traditional period, but will also be one of its bastions in the new period based on electric vehicles”, Mr. Szijjártó stated.

He added that announcements concerning the several hundreds of million of euros in new South Korean investments within the field of the electric automotive industry will be made over the coming months as the internal structure of these corporations allow it. The Minister told the press that these investments will be distributed in a balanced manner within the territory of Hungary, and many parts of the country will be profiting from them. Mr. Szijjártó also emphasised that political relations between Hungary and South Korea are also exceptionally good, and represent no barrier at all with relation to the further development of bilateral economic and investment relations. “Our trade flow increased to three and a half billion dollars last year, and despite the difficulties within the global economy, Hungarian exports to South Korea increased by a further 35 percent during the first four months of this year”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister pointed out, adding that the success of Hungarian-South Korean economic cooperation is also proof of the fact that Hungary was right to embark on its Eastern Opening policy. During his visit to South Korea, Mr. Szijjártó met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, had a bilateral meeting with Minister for Trade Yoo Myung-hee, and held talks with representatives of large South Korean corporations SK Innovation, Samsung SDI, Doosan Solus and Hankook Tire.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)