“Japanese car manufacturer Nissan will be expanding its only European business and financial service centre in Budapest; Hungary won the investment by one of the world’s most innovative automotive industry companies amid stiff regional competition”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said at a press conference on Tuesday in Budapest.

The Minister stressed that Nissan plans to maintain a long-term presence in Budapest, and the expansion will mean that the number of staff employed at the company’s Budapest centre will soon be increasing to seventy. “It is from here that Nissan provides the accounting and invoicing activities for its European factories, and high added value functions are also being transferred to Budapest”, the politician added.

Mr. Szijjártó highlighted the fact that Nissan is one of the flagships of electronic car manufacturing.

The Minister told reporters that Japan is the number one Asian investor in Hungary and the second after the United States among non-EU countries. Hungarian-Japanese trade flow exceeded 1.7 billion dollars during the first nine months of this year, an increase of 6 percent.

Mr. Szijjártó referred to the fact that the European Union has authorised the free trade agreement between the EU and Japan, as a result of which more Hungarian enterprises will gain opportunities on the Japanese market in future.

The Minister pointed out that there are 110 business service centres operating in Hungary, providing jobs to some 50 thousand people.

Mr. Szijjártó also spoke about the fact that this year the Hungarian economy will be breaking records with regard to both exports and investments.

He recalled that last year was the first time that Hungarian exports had exceeded 100 billion euros, and according to October figures exports have increased by a further 6 percent year-on-year, meaning this year’s exports will be even higher than last year’s record figure.

Last year, 3.5 billion euros in investments were realised in Hungary via the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), another new record. According to the latest figures, new investments agreed upon via the investment promotion system have already exceeded 4 billion euros.

The Minister indicated that major economic policy decisions had to be made in the interests of success, citing as an example the fact that Hungary has the lowest rates of personal and corporation tax in Europe. “The Hungarian economy has successfully transitioned to a period that concentrates on high added value, and is capable of competing within the fields of research & development and technology”, he declared.

28 percent of Hungarian industrial output is derived from the automotive industry, in which over 172 thousand people are employed. “The full spectrum of the automotive industry can be found in Hungary; not just production, but the research, development and services that provide for it”, Mr. Szijjártó added.

CEO of Nissan Sales CEE Ltd. Tomasz Latala-Golisz highlighted the fact that the Budapest service centre works in close cooperation with the company’s similar division in India. “Nissan’s decision to expand its service centre in Budapest was significantly influenced by the fact that Hungary has achieved major results within the field of innovative technology, and the Hungarian Government

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)