State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó announced in Budapest that the Eva Group, the leading Egyptian pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturer of the North African and Near Eastern region, would be establishing its European research and development centre in Hungary.

The State Secretary emphasised that as a first step, the European Development Centre would create 120 new jobs in Hungary; 20 at the Hungarian subsidiary of the Group, and 100 at external partners involved in cooperation with the company.

If expansion plans for Europe are realised the Group feels there is also a good change that it may also establish production capacity in Hungary, the State Secretary said. Mr. Szijjártó stressed that the fact that new jobs would be created in Hungary as a result of investment from an Egyptian company was another success for Hungary's policy of opening towards the East.

The State Secretary indicated that one of the goals of the investors was to prepare the expansion of the Eva Group's pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies into the European markets through utilising Hungarian expertise.

The State Secretary informed the press that the group of companies had been founded in 1935 to produce and market healthcare and cosmetics products. The healthcare division manufactures 350 thousand packets of pharmaceuticals every day, with a range of some 120 products, with a further 200 under development. The Group made a name for itself on the pharmaceutical market after being the first in the world to develop two new molecules to treat renal colic.

The company is the faster growing company group in the North African and Near Eastern region, achieving a growth rate of 30 percent each year, and is the cosmetics market leader in Egypt.

(Prime Minister’s Office)