The US company CooperVision, a global provider of contact lenses will extend its existing manufacturing base in Gyál through a development worth more than HUF 8 billion, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Monday in Budapest, at CooperVision’s press conference.

The Minister highlighted that with the latest development CooperVision will create 400 new jobs, and the two-year enlargement project will result in a 30 per cent increase in the floor space of the Gyál facility and the development of a new distribution unit that will serve the domestic and Central European markets.

Mr Szijjártó pointed out that in 2010 unemployment stood at 12.5 per cent – it has since decreased to just 3.8 per cent which is effectively equivalent to full employment. He added that there is keen competition among countries for digital developments and projects representing cutting-edge technologies, and in this competition the Hungarian economy is doing well and is at the forefront.

The Minister stressed that with the new investment CooperVision will seek to extend the production of its contact lens product branded as Clariti in order to meet the increased demand world-wide. The automation developments to be implemented on the existing production lines will increase the available capacity.

He said CooperVision currently makes 600 million contact lenses in Gyál annually. With the project now launched this number may rise to 1.2 billion. The products of CooperVision are sold in more than 100 countries around the world.

Mr Szijjártó pointed out that the US global company introduces 10 innovations and new developments annually in cutting-edge contact lens medical device production where regulations are made tighter year after year.

The Minister highlighted that last year 79.5 per cent of medical devices and substances made in Hungary were exported.

In his words, the creation of the new production unit forms part of the success story of US investments implemented in Hungary, and “this project will be able to continue to write this Hungarian-US economic success story”. He pointed out that in Hungary US companies represent the second largest investor community: the some 1,700 US businesses operating in Hungary provide jobs for more than 100,000 Hungarian workers.

Kevin Barrett, Senior Vice President of European Manufacturing Operations of CooperVision Inc. said that with the new investment worth USD 30 million and the new IT systems to be introduced parallel with the project, CooperVision in Gyál will become one of the global company’s most advanced and most modern facilities. The development will bring completely new technologies to Gyál, Mr Barrett stressed.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)