Hungary's government is ready to sign its next strategic cooperation agreements with the local units of IBM, National Instruments, TATA and Nokia Siemens Networks, business daily Napi Gazdaság reported on Monday.

State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Péter Szijjártó told the paper the first agreement to be signed in the near future will be with IBM, on January 11, where Minister of State at the Ministry for National Economy Zoltán Cséfalvay will represent the Government. The other agreements will be signed in early 2013, the State Secretary’s office said, adding that advanced negotiations are also under way with other companies with a significant presence in Hungary.

Since last summer, the Government has signed strategic partnership agreements with the local units of Coca-Cola, Alcoa, Daimler, Suzuki, Hankook, General Electric, Microsoft, Stadler Rail and Tesco, as well as with Hungarian pharmaceutical company Gedeon Richter, and expects to sign a total of around 40 such agreements.

(Prime Minister’s Office)