“Four South Korean enterprises are investing a total of seventy billion forints (EUR 211.5 million) in Hungary, creating 300 new workplaces”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Thursday in Seoul following talks with his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-Wha.

Mr. Szijjártó told reporters that the agreements with the four South Korean corporations on their Hungarian investments were concluded on Thursday. “Thanks to the state-of-the-art electric automotive industry and healthcare industry investments, South Korean investment in Hungary for this year is increasing to 900 billion forints (EUR 2.72 billion), which is unparalleled in the history of the Hungarian economy. As a result, South Korea will be the largest investor in Hungary this year”, said the Minister, who will also be holding talks with the representatives of dozens of other South Korean enterprises during the course of the day.

The Foreign Minister drew attention to the fact that the Hungarian economy is built on the automate industry in view of the fact that 30 percent of its industrial output is derived from the sector. “Accordingly, it is vitally important for Hungary to also be able to attract investment projects that include the most modern technology possible and create a large number of high added value jobs bad on research & development in the new automotive industry era, the era of electromobility. The leader of the section of the automotive industry that is built on electric drives is clearly South Korea, and South Korean corporations are the world market leaders in the manufacturing of electric batteries”, he stated.

Mr. Szijjártó reminded the press that in recent months Hungary had succeeded in concluding several high-volume agreements thanks to which the world’s most successful enterprises have brought huge investment projects to Hungary within the field of electric vehicle manufacturing. “Accordingly, South Korean enterprises represent the largest investor community this year for the first time in the history of the Hungarian economy; the highest level of investment in Hungary is coming from South Korea”, he added. “As a result, Hungary has clearly become the European flagship of the new automotive industry era in view of the fact that a significant proportion of the electric batteries destined for the European market will be manufactured there, and together with the associated supply industry this means thousands of new, high-added-value jobs”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

“Accordingly, the cooperation between Hungary and the Republic of South Korea represents a fantastic economic success story that is contributing greatly to the modernisation of the Hungarian economy and to enabling the Hungarian economy to achieve a dimensional transition and its high growth trajectory to remain sustainable in the long term” he stated.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade emphasised that thanks to the South Korean automotive industry investment projects, in contrast to European and global trends, the performance of the Hungarian automotive industry has increased by 14 percent this year, which is unequalled in both European and global comparison.

(MTI)