Sauflon CL Ltd., which manufactures contact lenses, is creating 180 new jobs in Gyál, announced State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó and Managing Director of Sauflon CL Ltd. János Peer on Wednesday at the company's plant in Gyál.

The Ministry of National Economy and the Ministry of National Development will be providing funding for the development project following a special decision on the part of the Government. The preparation of the decision and the development of an optimal funding package was performed by the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency (HITA).

Péter Szijjártó explained that it is the Government's goal to exploit the changes that are occurring in challenging new world to its own advantage so that it can begin the period following the crisis from the strongest position possible, and this also requires strong allies from the private sector.
The British company group's contact lens production centre is clearly Hungarian-based Sauflon, he added. The company has been continuously developing its headquarters in Gyál since 2007. The new development project will cost over 10 million euros and will increase the plant's capacity to some 1.4 million contact lenses-a-day.

The Hungarian Government's objective is to make Hungary one of Europe's production centres, and this means offering one of the continents most competitive investment environments, in the interests of which the Government has overhauled several major systems, the State Secretary said.

He emphasised that production at the plant would be moving even further in the direction of high added value and state-of-the-art technology, in addition to which 20 percent of Sauflon CL Ltd's daily procurement is achieved using Hungarian suppliers. This is why it makes sense for HITA, which falls under the authority of the Prime Ministers Office, to contribute significant funds to the further expansion of Sauflon's plant. The new development project will help increase employment and will contribute to the success of the Hungarian higher education system and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, in addition to which it will also create further jobs indirectly through its Hungarian suppliers and partners.

János Peer stressed that the secret of the company's success was their competitive wage scale, the excellent infrastructure that fulfils all requirements and the highly skilled staff. The plant currently employs some six hundred people and manufactures one million contact lenses-a-day; the company would like to increase its capacity by 35-40 percent.

(Prime Minister's Office)