“The Hungarian Government is providing 968 million forints (EUR 3.15M) in funding towards Diehl Aircabin Hungary Ltd’s 2.76 billion forint (EUR 9M) project to develop an engineering centre in Debrecen, creating 150 new workplaces that represent high added value”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced.
The Minister recalled that Diehl Aircabin had announced during the summer that it will be expanding its production base in Nyírbátor, which currently employs 565 people, creating new workplaces for a further 230 people, meaning that together with the new engineering centre in Debrecen, the German-owned family business will be providing employment to some 1000 people in Hungary.
“The newly announced development project also indicates that the Hungarian economy has moved forward into a new dimension”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted. “Instead of Made in Hungary, we would like to move forward to the invented in Hungary stage, in which not only production, but research & development would also occur in Hungary. To this end, it is important that as many international enterprises as possible acquire positive experiences with regard to Hungary during the course of production”, he explained.
“Diehl is in the number one sport in the aircraft parts production sector, is active in 80 locations around the world, employs 16.5 thousand people and is the primary supplier for, amongst others, Airbus, Boeing and Aerocopter”, Mr. Szijjártó told the press.
The Minister pointed out that Diehl is the latest German company to choose Hungary as an investment destination. Stressing the importance of Hungarian-German economic relations, Mr. Szijjártó told reporters: Based on data for the first six months of the year, trade flow between the two countries could easily exceed 50 billion euros by the end of 2017, which would be a new record. Hungarian-German bilateral trade flow increased by 8 percent during the first two quarters of this year, with Hungarian exports increasing by 7 percent to exceed 13.5 billion euros, he added, highlighting the fact that based on the latest figures trade flow between Germany and the countries of the Visegrád Group (V4) was 55 percent higher that trade between Germany and France.
At the press conference, CEO of Diehl Aerosystems Division Rainer von Borstel highlighted the fact that the company had decided on Debrecen as the site of its new engineering centre based on the favourable experiences with relation to the company’s plant in Nyírbátor, and because of the opportunities afforded by the Hungarian economy.
Mayor of Debrecen László Papp stressed that the new investment by the German company underpins the city’s economic development plans. Service centres play an important role in the city, providing jobs to some 3 thousand people. Debrecen is facilitating the creation of the infrastructure required for the establishment of service centres through developing the office space market, and the University of Debrecen is providing highly-trained experts and professionals.