American IT consulting company Pactera will open a development centre in Hungary, investing about EUR 11 million into the project that will create 230 new jobs in the first phase already. The investment was announced Tuesday at a press conference in Budapest, where Péter Szijjártó, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade emphasized: Pactera’s presence is another proof of the fact that Hungary attracts more and more investments in the business service sector.
Antonio Montomoli, Vice President of Pactera SSC explained that they have long-term plans in Hungary, and their local office will be the centre of their software development, business intelligence and data analysis activities, among others. Mr Szijjártó referred to the governmental objective declared in 2010, i.e. Hungary should be the production centre of Europe.
He believed that the success of this strategy has been confirmed by now, employment is at a record level, the current number of taxpayers is higher than ever, and last year a turning point was achieved in economic growth, while this year the Hungarian economy is on a permanent growth trajectory.
The “positive side-effect” of the economic policy supporting the manufacturing sectors is that several manufacturing companies bring also their service divisions to Hungary, therefore, those manufacturing companies that are present in the country operate an increasing number of service and development centres, he emphasized. He also added that even those companies started to pay attention to this phenomenon, which were not yet present in Hungary; Pactera is a good example. Now the business service sector accounts for a significant proportion of the investments directed to Hungary.
The State Secretary recited that there are over 80 service and development centres operating in Hungary, employing 30,000 people. Hungary has been gradually becoming the European regional centre of service and development centres, emphasized Mr Szijjártó.
Hungary has several competitive advantages: highly qualified workforce with language skills is available, and the country – given its central location – may simultaneously serve time zones spanning about 6 hours to both East and West, the State Secretary noted.
He explained that the investment by Pactera will strengthen the Hungarian economy and the Government also strives to establish long-term cooperation with the company: the Cabinet will provide the necessary assistance to ensure that the number of employees will increase to 800-1,000 in the 2nd and 3rd stages of the investment after the over 200 new jobs to be created in the 1st phase.
Mr Szijjártó emphasized that further Government decisions are expected in the future to make the Hungarian business environment even more attractive.
Mr Montomoli pointed out: The Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency (HITA) and the Hungarian Government gave them great help for the investment, and this was one of the reasons why they chose Hungary for this project. The other reason for their decision, he explained, was that Hungary is in the middle of Europe geographically, and also the availability of the Hungarian expertise and properly qualified, talented workforce, which are also essential for serving their international clientele.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)
