The government's decision to conclude strategic cooperation agreements with large foreign firms with operations in Hungary was good, yielding benefits to all parties involved, Hungarian State Secretary Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Tuesday.

The agreements are beneficial to Hungary, to major foreign companies, their employees and small and middle-sized Hungarian suppliers, the state secretary in charge of foreign trade told at a conference today.

The government has so far established strategic partnerships with 35 companies, Szijjártó said. He emphasized the fact that this 35 companies concluded investments worth 650 bn HUF (2.1 bn €) and created 5500 new jobs.

The majority of the companies, which the government signed these partnerships with, are present in Hungary over 5 years, contributed enormously to Hungary’s export, they invest a significant amount of their turnover in this country, employ over 1.000 people and they provide opportunities for Hungarian suppliers.

The profiles of these companies are various, as the state secretary said.  Ten of them are active in the vehicle industry, thanks to this fact, Hungary has become the flagship of the European vehicle industry. There are also numerous electronics and pharmaceutical companies as well.

Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that in return, and for raising competitiveness, the government lowered the taxes related to work, created a more flexible labour code, restructured the higher education and created the dual vocational training system.

Thanks to the Strategic partnerships, the national government started to grow this year – added by the state secretary.

(Prime Minister’s Office)