Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Press Statement Following his Meeting with the President and CEO of DENSO Manufacturing Hungary Limited

My respects to the plant's Japanese directors and greetings to the local government leaders and members of the press present.

This is a good day. We are talking about an investment of 29 billion forints and 500 new jobs, of which 300 will be created directly and 200 indirectly. Before I say anything at all, please allow me to react to something that the gentleman before me [President and CEO of DENSO Manufacturing Hungary Limited Mr. Jiro Ebihara] said, because it explains why in fact we are so jealous of the Japanese. Because we are not jealous of their money or because of their level of technological development, but on account of the confidence with which they handle time and the future. What the company's director said a little earlier, and I quote, is that the company will remain competitive until the middle of the next decade as a result of this investment. This shows us the direction in which we too should develop, because this way of thinking indicates that they do not regard the future as something that should instil fear, but that they instead regard the future as something that holds opportunities, and these opportunities must be exploited. And it is of course because of our unlucky history, but the Hungarians generally regard the future as something that is full of uncertainty and which should be feared, or at the very least handled with caution. And what we would like to achieve, and this is the essence of Hungary's economic policy, is that we too should be able to state with such confidence that we have taken the necessary steps to ensure that Hungary's industry remains competitive until the middle of the next decade.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For us to be able to speak and think about the future in this way requires us to have strategic partners; Corporations who think like this, who plan like this, and who through their own success also reinforce Hungary's stability. This is why DENSO is especially important to us and why this relationship is of such special importance, because the success of this Japanese company is also the success of Hungary and of the Hungarian people.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to remind you all of the fact that we paid an official visit to Japan last November, where we signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with the Prime Minister of Japan and determined that it is in the interests of both countries for Hungary's Japanese industry policy, which brings Japanese companies to Hungary and facilitates the expansion of existing ones, to continue. On such occasions we always mention that Japan occupies an especially fond place in our memories because in 1990, when the previous system collapsed, Japanese companies were the first to appear in Hungary and helped modernise the Hungarian economy. This relationship, this special friendly relationship, is still strong and we have always given suitable respect and provided the necessary conditions to Japanese companies arriving in Hungary. And in addition we also agree with the Japanese with regard to the fact that those who wish to be successful in future must respect work and the family and these must occupy a central place in their way of thinking, because this is what can and will make us and any country successful in the upcoming period. I must also admit to you that although Hungary is also trying its hand at novel, or as we call them innovative, economic planning and economic policy solutions, we are not as courageous as the Japanese. Because from an economic point of view, what is happening in Japan is a revolution. In Japan, the current Prime Minister has launched a completely new economic policy that breaks away from a good many economic theories that are written in stone and in textbooks with regard to how it handles public debt and the issue of inflation. These are all brushstrokes of such a courageous nature that they awaken deep respect in us, the Hungarians.

I also told President Ebihara that we have a clear industrial policy concept. Today, the average contribution of industrial production to the gross national product within the countries of the European Union is 15 percent. In Hungary it is 23 percent. This places us among the frontrunners, but over the course of the next four years we would like to claim the title of Europe's most industrialised country, meaning that we would like to increase the contribution of the production industry to the gross national product from 23 percent to 25-26 percent. And I also told President Ebihara that we would be moving on to a new phase following this industrial expansion, having been encouraged by Japan's example of how to handle time and the future. We are in the process of building the large innovation centres around which we would like to establish modern industrial technology. There are already several such examples both here in Budapest and in Szeged, and would like to also include other cities in this process. The City of Pécs is also a designated target, and we would also like to make them capable, especially in view of their existing huge university capacity, of becoming one of Europe's most modern industrial centres.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I must also mention two other things with regard to DENSO, with which we would also like to express our appreciation for the company. The first is that DENSO is an exceptionally good partner to Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises. The plant in Székesfehérvár has the most local suppliers within the whole company group, with 18 Hungarian suppliers, and this further reinforces our interest in the continued success of DENSO. We are in fact talking about a total of some 5000 people here. The second important thing that I would like to draw your attention to is that this plant has not assimilated into the Hungarian conditions, or at least it has not incorporated the bad examples from Hungary. We are talking about a company, Ladies and Gentlemen, which always, and I have checked this myself, pays its invoices within 30 days. This is a level of dependability which should be the norm in Hungary, but unfortunately this isn't the case as yet. I would like express my special acknowledgement to the directors of the company, because despite seeing what the culture of invoice payment is like here in Hungary, which is unfortunately worse than it should be, they continuously maintain the practice of putting dependability in first place, and accordingly always perform their financial responsibilities on time.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would also like to tell you that the management of DENSO have shared with me their thoughts with relation to skilled labour. Székesfehérvár and the surrounding area are slowly approaching their limits and there will soon be a shortage of highly trained and willing workers who are capable of performing their duties to the required level of quality in the area. This implies a problem which Hungary will have to solve, perhaps not now, but in four years' time, that although it may attract new industrial capacities, if we do not continue to reorganise our vocational training system at the rate we have begun doing, and if we do not succeed in getting more young people involved in work and production through the vocational training system, then eventually the barrier to further economic growth will not be unemployment, but the suitably trained, available workforce that is capable of performing their duties to the required level of quality. This problem, which will appear in perhaps four or five years, was clearly underlined during the course of my discussions with the management of the DENSO factory.

In closing, I would also like to express my acknowledgement to the directors of the factory with regard to the issue of research & development and innovation, because they have also placed Hungary and Székesfehérvár on the map when it comes to research & development, having established a technology centre here. They began working with thirty engineers, and the centre now employs sixty people. I am sure you remember that within the framework of the Job Protection Action Plan we introduced separate regulations with regard to research engineers. Those who employ research engineers receive a significant allowance with regard to the employer contributions paid in relation to such staff. The goal was also to facilitate the arrival and further expansion of research & development centres in Hungary. DENSO understood this message and has significantly increased the number of engineers it employs at its technology centre.

I would also like to thank the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency in the name of the Government, although it is their job to facilitate the realisation of expansions such as this one. I would like to thank our Japanese partners for having decided on this expansion in accordance with their own, clear interests. We are proud of the fact that Székesfehérvár is experiencing a major industrial expansion. In closing, I would, however, like to underline my statement according to which the biggest argument in favour of DENSO's expansion was not the two billion forints provided by the Government, and it wasn't even the favourable investment opportunities available in Hungary, but the most important argument in favour was the fact that those employees who have been working in the DENSO factory until now have done an excellent job and have performed very well. If you prefer, the real reason, the real explanation for this latest investment and expansion, and the people to whom we should primarily address our appreciation, are the workers here in Székesfehérvár, who were capable of operating state-of-the-art Japanese technology with Japanese efficiency, precision and discipline. This is a great achievement. And I think Hungary can be proud of its workers and Székesfehérvár can be proud of the workers of Székesfehérvár, who have performed so well at the DENSO factory, that a new investment is now being realised as a result.

Thank you for your kind attention and my congratulations and thanks once again to the directors of the factory.

(Prime Minister’s Office)