“South Korean SK Innovation’s 239 billion-forint (EUR 750 million) investment project, which it will be launching in March, will create one thousand new workplaces in Komárom”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
Mr. Szijjártó told the press that the construction of the facility, which will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles, will begin in March, and production is expected to begin in late 2021 or early 2022. “SK Innovation has purchased a 430 thousand-square-metre plot of land in Komárom for the construction of the 112 thousand square metre building”, he added.
“The Government will be contributing to the project with non-returnable funding, but negotiations with the investors are still underway with relation to the level of that funding”, the Minister stated, justifying the state assistance with the high-added-value-generating production and the deployment of state-of-the-art technologies in Hungary.
Mr. Szijjártó noted that Hungary had won the investment by SK Innovation, which is one of the field’s global market leaders, amidst stiff competition. He evaluated the decision as an acknowledgement of the work of the Hungarian people, pointing out that three of the five largest Asian manufacturers, Samsung and GS Yuasa, in addition to SK Innovation, have already appeared in Hungary, while only one such investment project has been launched in Germany and Poland.
In reply to a question, Mr. Szijjártó said the region is capable of meeting the workforce requirements of the new battery manufacturing plant in Komárom, in view of the fact the city and the surrounding settlements have a high level of skilled labour and higher education is following the demands of the labour market. The Government’s economic policy calculates with a maximum of 5 million workers, in line with the country’s capabilities, but the reorganisation of the education system and the development requirements of certain regions are allowing for more major investment projects, he said.
Citing the many high added value investments launched in recent years, the Minister also refuted the fact that only the number of assembly plants is growing in Hungary. “The significance of engineering, service and development centres that employ highly-trained workers has increased markedly, and in 2018 new workplaces offered an average salary of 425 thousand forints, much higher than the 305-thousand-forint average of the previous year”, Mr. Szijjártó stressed.
(MTI)
