Egyptian pharmaceutical company Armanious Group inaugurated a 2 million euro research and development centre in Budapest on Tuesday. Hungary's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó said the fact that a leading pharmaceuticals company from North Africa had located its R+D centre in Budapest signalled the success of the country’s policy of opening towards the East.
Mr Szijjártó emphasised that Egypt plays an important role in the opening towards the East and is Hungary’s third most vital partner in Africa. In the first eleven months of 2013 trade volume between the two countries increased by 30%, reaching 175 million dollars. He also stressed that the company invests in a sector which plays a crucial role in Hungary’s economy. The Hungarian pharmaceutical sector employs 13600 people directly, and 38 thousand people with suppliers included, while product value reaches 755 billion forints.
The Eva Biomedical European Development Institute (EBEDI) will have a staff of twenty but will create a further hundred jobs indirectly. Budapest's strong knowledge network in the area of medical biology ensures the framework for research in medicine and cosmetics, while the centre's location gives Armanious Group the chance to enter new markets, especially in the region of central and Eastern Europe, said chairman Mounir Riad Armanious.
(Prime Minister's Office)
