“More and more companies from Baden-Württemberg are performing job-creating investments in Hungary, and as a result of the success of giant companies, increasing numbers of medium-sized enterprises are also choosing Hungary as the site for their new investment projects”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday from Stuttgart, in the recess of talks in the German state capital.
In the statement, the Minister pointed out that giant companies from Baden-Württemberg such as Daimler, which is constructing its second Mercedes-Benz plant in Kecskemét, or Bosch, which regards Hungary as its number one destination for investments required for innovative automotive industry development projects, are active in Hungary.
As he explained, “We are witness to favourable processes; the successes and positive experiences of large companies from Baden-Württemberg are a source of encouragement to Baden-Württemberg’s extremely strong medium-sized enterprise sector”.
One example is that machine industry company Robert Bürkle has begun construction of its plant in Debrecen, and the 400-million-forint (EUR 1.3 million) investment will create 100 new workplaces in the Hajdú-Bihar County capital”. Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
He pointed out that thanks to extremely extensive and diverse economic cooperation, Baden-Württemberg is Hungary’s second largest trade partner from among Germany’s 16 states, with bilateral trade flow exceeding 11 billion euros last year.
“The role of enterprises from Baden-Württemberg is particularly important with relation to the development of the Hungarian automotive industry, and they contributed greatly to enabling the sector’s performance to increase by 6 percent in 2018, with production value exceeding 8500 billion forints (EUR 26.8bn), and the number of people employed by the sector reaching 174 thousand”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade added.
“The companies arriving from the State are also contributing to the fact that the annual production value of the Hungarian automotive sector will soon reach 10 trillion forints (EUR 31.5bn), as also indicated by the fact that, for instance, Daimler is not only constructing another plant in Kecskemét, but has also begun production of its latest model, the Mercedes-Benz CLA Coupé, at its existing plant”, he added.
“It is also thanks to investments by companies from Baden-Württemberg that last year Hungary became one of the world’s 20 largest automotive industry exporters, as a result of the fact that the sector’s exports exceeded 20 billion euros”, the Minister explained. “It is of primary importance to the Government that the Hungarian automotive industry should also be a frontrunner in the new, innovative automotive industry era, and that we retain our acquired positions, thanks to which Hungary is one of the bastions of European car production”, the Minister underlined.
(MTI)
