According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, international companies are important in Hungary’s open economy, but “the soul of the Hungarian economy is provided by Hungarian-owned enterprises”.

Péter Szijjártó spoke about this on Wednesday in Debrecen, during the foundation stone laying ceremony for BHS Trans Limited’s new logistics centre. “The government is funding job-creating investment projects and investing enterprises”, the Minister added, pointing out that BHS Trans is building logistics centres in four Hungarian settlements this year with a total investment of 7.6 billion forints (EUR 21.9 million), with which it will be creating 165 new workplaces. “The government is assisting the investment projects with 3.4 billion forints (EUR 9.8 million) in non-returnable funding”, Mr. Szijjártó indicated.

The Minister said that the coronavirus pandemic is also an economic issue, and since Hungary has successfully closed the healthcare phase of its protection efforts, it must now concentrate on economic protection. According to Mr. Szijjártó, there exists an economic philosophy that in such a situation would distribute benefits, but this leads to indebtedness and dependency. In contrast, the government is supporting job creation and investment projects, he explained.

“A new global economic competition is beginning, and the position occupied by enterprises in this competition is being decided now: those who develop and expand now will be the winners of this competition”, the Minister declared. “The goal now is for Hungarian enterprises to be stronger following the epidemic than they were before it”, he noted. He added that increasing numbers of Hungarian enterprises are also successful and competitive abroad, and that in his opinion one such company is the Hell group, and its domestic strategic partner BHS Trans Limited, which has a fleet of 500 heavy goods vehicles.

He praised the fact that BHS Trans is launching investment projects at five different points around the country, four of which will be logistics centres in cities, including Debrecen, with total warehouse space of 22 thousand square metres and a two-thousand-square-metre office block. Mr. Szijjártó also praised the development projects realised in Debrecen, pointing out that in the spirit of the Debrecen 2030 concept adopted by the government a few days ago, major development projects will be launched within the fields of infrastructure, education and culture.

Mayor of Debrecen László Papp reminded the press that the southern industrial area that will  also be home to BHS Trans’s logistics centre was only launched four years ago, but the plants being built or currently operating there have already facilitated the creation of over 1200 jobs. “According to plan, a 15-hectare business park will soon be created for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)”, he added. “2.5 billion forints (EUR 7.2 million) in infrastructure development projects will be realised in the southern industrial zone within the framework of the Debrecen 2030 Program”, the mayor pointed out.

Senior Logistics Director of BHS Trans Limited Zsolt Blága recalled that in the spring of 2011 the company set as its goal to become one of the determining participants of the logistics segment. “This goal has since been realised”, he declared.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)