Emirates airlines plans to set up a customer service centre in Budapest with an investment of several million dollars, which is expected to employ 300 people, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó said on Monday.
The State Secretary told at a press conference that the Emirates customer service centre will be the second of its kind in Europe. Emirates generates a significant part of its revenues in Europe and the company expects the Budapest centre to play a significant role in its European expansion plans, Mr. Szijjártó added.
Talks between Hungary and the airline began in March 2012 and the Hungarian Government is supporting the investment with 300 million forints (€ 977,000) in funding. According to the State Secretary, several factors made Budapest an ideal destination for the investment: the skilled workforce required is present, the telecommunications infrastructure is well developed and the Government had a supportive attitude.
Mr. Szijjártó underlined that there has been a breakthrough in Arabic-Hungarian economic and trade cooperation, one of the signs of which was the Prime Minister’s official visit to Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia, with a sizeable business entourage. Important agreements were also signed at the second Hungarian-Arabic Forum.
Between 2003 and 2013, trade volume between Hungary and the Arabic countries has tripled, reaching USD 2.5 billion last year. According to the State Secretary, the Emirates' decision is another breakthrough in Hungarian-Arabic business cooperation.
Emirates, which flies to 130 destinations in 70 countries, operating 1200 flights and employing 62.000 people, already runs a service centre in Manchester – the Budapest office will be the second on the continent and the seventh in the world.
The United Arab Emirates – the home of Emirates Airlines – is Hungary's biggest trading partner in the region, with trade volume exceeding 1 billion USD.
The first shared service centre (SSC) in Hungary opened in the mid 1990s and there are currently 80 SSCs in Hungary, employing 30 thousand mostly young, multi-lingual people with university degrees. The Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency (HITA) is currently negotiation with regard to 30 projects involving the opening of SSCs in Hungary, which would result in the creation of 9.000 new jobs, according to State Secretary Szijjártó.
(Prime Minister’s Office)
