“From one of Europe’s economies that was lagging behind, the Hungarian economy has become Europe’s fastest growing economy”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Friday in Berettyóújfalu, where he presented Mezei-Vill Ltd. with a funding certificate within the framework of the competitiveness-increasing program.

Mr. Szijjártó said the most important thing is to protect workplaces and to create new jobs, explaining that this is why the government has placed the funding of Hungarian enterprises that realise development projects at the focus of economy protection. “806 enterprises operating in Hungary have undertaken to realise a total of 377 billion forints (EUR 1.05 billion) in investment, towards which the government is providing 150 billion forints (EUR 416 million) in competitiveness funding”, he added. “The program was recently relaunched in view of the fact that there was still 18 billion forints (EUR 50 million) in funding available in the budget, for which 98 enterprises submitted applications for funding relating to 47 billion forints (EUR 130 million) in investment within just fifteen minutes”, he indicated.

Berettyóújfalu-based Mezei-Vill Limited has received 287 million forints (EUR 800 thousand) in state funding towards its 574-million-forint (EUR 1.59 million) investment project, with which it has protected 60 workplaces and is able to realise technological development projects that will increase its competitiveness on both the domestic and foreign markets. “In addition to Hungarian settlements, the lamps produced by the company, which manufactures and installs public lighting equipment, can also be found in Romanian, Croatian and Ukrainian cities”, the Minister said, noting that Berettyóújfalu’s local government achieved savings of 55 percent after modernising its public lighting network using the company’s lamps.

Mr. Szijjártó also said that 35 enterprises from Hajdú-Bihar County have requested and received a total of 8.2 billion forints (EUR 22.7 million) in competitiveness state funding towards 16.5 billion forints (EUR 45.8 million) in investment, with which they have been able to protect 4100 workplaces.
Referring to the new motorway border crossing point inaugurated on the Hungarian-Romanian border on Friday, the region’s Member of Parliament István Vitányi (Fidesz) said: “The region’s accessibility can no longer be an obstacle for investors”. He praised the work of Mezei-Vill Ltd., which has grown from a small local enterprise into one that is now also recognised abroad. The company’s Managing Director József Mezei highlighted: “In addition to preserving jobs, the investment project being realised with the help of state funding is also facilitating the putting into commission of new, automated production lines”.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade / MTI)