Hungary's foreign minister has visited IT businesses and the Tesla plant in San Francisco to highlight the country's growing automotive industry and corporate tax incentives.
Péter Szijjártó, minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the world’s automotive industry is on the verge of a completely new era, and this poses particular challenges to countries such as Hungary where the automotive industry plays an extremely important role in the economy.
Minister Szijjártó believes that the West Coast of the United States offers Hungary special opportunities for the national economy and nation strategy.
While in the United States, the minister met with the executives of more than twenty Silicon Valley IT businesses, while in the factory of Tesla he had talks with the company’s Business Development Manager and general counsel.
The minister said that there is no doubt that Tesla will be one of the key players of the new automotive era both in respect of autonomous cars and electromobility. Demand for the cars manufactured by Tesla is growing extremely rapidly worldwide, and the company is therefore continuously expanding its manufacturing capacity as well as its staff at a rapid pace, he said.
“In light of this, the purpose of our meeting today was to place Hungary on the map which is in the heads of Tesla executives – the map of countries which see the automotive industry as a particular priority," the minister said.
Minister Szijjártó drew attention to the fact that Hungary is one of the flagships of the European automotive industry, and Tesla particularly appreciated the tax benefits provided in Hungary in connection with research, development and investments, our low tax rates and the fact that Hungary was the first country in Central Europe which adopted an electromobility strategy.
“Tesla supercharger stations will be installed which will evidently open up a new dimension in relations between the company and Hungary. We have under any circumstances managed to achieve that the executives of Tesla now appreciate that Hungary looks upon the automotive industry as a priority, and the country is one of the automotive industry’s flagships in Europe," Minister Szijjártó said.
During his trip, the minister also met with the representatives of Hungarian national communities, paid a visit to the Hungarian Catholic mission where Hungarian Benedictine monks operate the best high school on the West Coast, and held talks with members of the Hungarian Reformed Church community.