The foreign minister has said that global companies using cutting-edge technology are putting their trust in Hungary, its investment environment and the Hungarian people.
Péter Szijjártó said, at the official opening of the Continental test track in Veszprém, in western Hungary, that it will be the largest vehicle dynamics test track in central Europe. The government has contributed HUF 1.46 billion (EUR 4m) to the HUF 9.7 billion investment project, which will create 130 new jobs.
According to MTI, the project will boost Continental’s international competitiveness and Hungary’s position as a focus country. The test track project is all the more important because a “sharp competition with much at stake” has started globally for the redistribution of capacities in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the minister said.
Minister Szijjártó said the car industry had always been a flagship of the Hungarian economy. At present it accounts for 30 percent of the country’s industrial output. Its production value grew by a record-high 12 percent to HUF 9,500 billion in 2019, and in the first seven months of this year 90 percent of its output was exported. He said the pandemic has not decreased Hungary’s competitiveness on the global market.
German companies have always played an important role in the Hungarian economy and Continental provides 8,000 families’ livelihood, the minister said. A quarter of foreign investment in Hungary originates in Germany, with 6,000 companies offering jobs to 300,000 Hungarians, he added. The government is negotiating with 24 German companies about further investment projects, he said.
Photo credit: Magyar Hírlap