“Hungary is among the frontrunners in the global competition for foreign investment that is underway with relation to the redistribution of available and transforming capacities”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Friday in the Vas County town of Bük, at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Nestlé Hungária Limited’s 50-billion-forint (EUR 140 million) investment project.

“While the news arriving from the global economy is almost exclusively negative, concerning factory closures, unemployment, mass redundancies and bankruptcies, thanks to the efforts of the past ten years here in Hungary we are announcing newer and newer national investment projects and investments that are breaking European records almost every day”, he stated. “As a result of these, we already caught back up to January’s employment figures in early August, and by the end of August there were once again more that four and a half million people working in Hungary.”, he added. Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that Nestle’s latest 50-billion-forint development project in Bük is the largest Hungarian investment in the company’s history, which will be increasing the pet food plant’s production capacity by 30 percent and creating 160 new workplaces. “The significance of the investment is indicated by the fact that the government has declared the Bük development project to be an investment that is vital to the national economy”, he added. “This investment provides a new boost to the Hungarian food industry, which was able to significantly increase its production value during the first seven months of this year, and which provides jobs to 140 thousand people”, the Minister stated. He also spoke about the fact that Nestlé purchases the raw materials that it uses during the course of its production from over a thousand Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises. “Nestlé’s investment reinforces relations between Switzerland and Hungary; Swiss investors have brought over 2 billion euros of investment to Hungary to date”, Mr. Szijjártó pointed out.

At the foundation stone laying ceremony, Managing Director of Nestlé Hungária Limited Péter Noszek highlighted that the 140-million-euro investment will not only be the largest investment realised by Nestlé Hungária to date, but is also outstanding among Hungarian food industry investment projects. “Following the expansion, the capacity of the Bük plant will exceed 5 million products-a-day, as a result of which over 70 truckloads of pet food will be able to set out every day to almost every country in Europe, as well as to North Africa, the Near and Middle East, Australia and New Zealand”, the Managing Director stated.
In his speech, the region’s Member of Parliament Péter Ágh (Fidesz) said: “The construction of the M86 motorway and the ongoing development of highway 87, as well as the latest Bük investment project, all indicate that Vas County continues to welcome new investors”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)