The document, which is the 25th Strategic Partnership Agreement concluded so far by the Hungarian Government, was signed by Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga and President-CEO of Siemens Zrt Dale A. Martin.

At the signing ceremony, held in the presence of the German and Austrian ambassadors to Hungary as well as the rectors of several universities, Mihály Varga emphasised that the agreement concluded with Siemens “is a brilliant example of how it is possible to align the Government’s successful investment policy with the goals of economic stakeholders.”

In his speech, the Minister underlined that the creation of jobs has been one of the pivotal objectives of the Government, parallel to promoting the successful operation of enterprises, which is an indispensable element. “The Government will implement every measure necessary in order to ensure the long-term and steady presence of investment partners, strengthen mutual trust, enable regular dialogue and information flow and to guarantee a predictable business environment for enterprises,” he said.

The Minister called the competitive taxation system and the finalised system of state subsidies the two pillars of the Government’s active investor-friendly policy. He underlined that in the past fifteen years, about two-fifths of Hungarian economic growth – averaging 2.5 percent in this period – originated from the Hungarian subsidiaries and affiliates of foreign investors.

Mihály Varga also mentioned that relations with Germany and German enterprises are of primary importance to the Government. He said that some 26 percent of Hungarian exports head to Germany, while 25 percent of Hungary’s imports and 24 percent of inbound FDI come from Germany.

The Minister stressed that the Government seeks to establish and maintain relations with investors, labour organisations, the Investor Council and joint commissions, and has also created workgroups to make negotiations even more efficient.

Speaking about the activities of Siemens, the Minister for National Economy underlined that the company is capable of finding solutions to modern-day challenges, driving economic growth via the construction and updating of transport infrastructure as well as via energy-efficient construction technology solutions. In addition, when combined, the knowledge of Hungarian engineers and the strong balance sheet and relationships of Siemens can create a force which is capable of revolutionising energy utilization, Mihály Varga said.

As he stated, over the past two years Siemens has created 400 new jobs in Hungary, and thus the company now employs more than 2400 people. In 2012, Hungarian suppliers provided products worth EUR 80.5 million, and the share of Hungarians among suppliers was 84 percent.

President-CEO Dale A. Martin said that within the framework of the Partnership Agreement Siemens undertook to continue to be an active partner in modernising Hungary and to deepen and strengthen the country's links with the German economy. Along with these commitments, the company will also contribute to enhancing Hungary’s global competitiveness, stimulating Hungarian industrial production, assisting Hungarian SMEs to gain market share and to integrate them into the global innovation network.

In his speech, the head of the company stressed that Siemens has been present in several areas of the life of Hungarian people and families, such as transport, industry, households, electricity generation, healthcare, universities, colleges and vocational schools. Speaking about the latter, he added that Siemens had already introduced dual education in the 1990s, and the system had been further developed over the past year.

In the opinion if the President-CEO, the essence of the Agreement is cooperation for sustainable economic growth, job creation and bolstering the role of innovation. To describe the company’s involvement within the Hungarian economy, Dale A. Martin spoke about the Csepel transformer factory as an example, where annual transformer production totalled 800 when the company overtook the facility in 1996; last year, turnover had already increased 17-fold and 90 percent of that was manufactures for export.

(Ministry for National Economy)