Foreign trade relations are balanced between Hungary and France, and Hungary considers France a very important investor, Minister of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade László Szabó told MTI following his three-day visit to France, where he had discussions to promote the increase of trade turnover, as well as to facilitate bilateral economic relations and French working capital inflow to Hungary.
The Minister of State held discussions at the business meeting of the French employers’ association (MEDEF) with the representatives of about 10-12 French companies that are present in Hungary or showing interest towards Hungary.
He specifically referred to his consultation with the managers of the company VINCI Construction about the EUR 10 billion infrastructure project related to restructuring the transport system in Paris. The project will span a period of 10-15 years and may offer considerable opportunities to Hungarian companies as well. The same company is planning to construct blocks of flats consisting of 600,000 new apartments and is seeking comprehensive cost-effective solutions for this. According to the Minister of State, the French company may be interested in various opportunities from Graphisoft’s architectural design software to new innovative materials; therefore, he will forward French requirements directly to the Hungarian associations of architecture so that they are aware of the opportunities offered to Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Minister of State also met the representatives of Areva, the French nuclear giant who signed a cooperation agreement with Hungarian engineering company evopro in February in Budapest. According to this agreement the two companies may submit a successful tender for participation in the Paks investment project to be launched in 2018.
"After acquiring the knowledge and the references, we may receive opportunities in nuclear plants of other countries as well, thereby giving a boost to the exports of the Hungarian industry", László Szabó pointed out. A single contract like this may give us access to the global mainstream, he added.
Ceva Sante Animale, a company employing several hundred people in the productions sites of CEVA-Phylaxia Oltóanyagtermelő Zrt, indicated that they are seriously considering the delivery of their new veterinary medical product with central registration in Hungary to other parts of Europe. The Government is ready to provide assistance for this "especially if production also takes place in Hungary because this would create new jobs", the Minister of State said.
László Szabó visited the Toulouse Space Centre (CNES) since Hungary had joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in February.
According to the Minister of State, the accession "will open up many opportunities" for Hungarian developments also because the instruments of this discipline must be prepared with high added value, that is, "Hungary can be competitive with the largest nations". He emphasised that Hungarian companies have already been present in large space research projects, supplying instruments that are necessary for the landing of satellites, among others. The representatives of five Hungarian companies also accompanied the Minister of State to Toulouse to negotiate on extending the cooperation in space research.
"By getting to know us in person and thanks to the accession, they will consider us more serious players, so we may get even more opportunities", the Minister of State emphasised. "Although we cannot contribute to the projects with significant financial resources, Hungarian engineers’ knowledge and experience and the existing results enable us to be full participants in space research", he added.
The Minister of State received several questions about the Hungarian standpoint in connection with the European energy union and the Ukraine crisis due to our relations with Russia. "Once we had expressed our opinion they became relieved and it was revealed that there are several common areas where we can cooperate", he emphasised.
In the evening the Minister of State will meet Matthias Fekl, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad, and Muriel Pénicaud, the CEO of Business France, the agency for investment promotion and trade development.
László Szabó would like to draw his partners’ attention to the fact that even the U.S. media considers our country attractive. As an example, he mentioned that Hungary is ranked among the top 10 countries recommended for investment by the economic magazine Forbes that published its assessment two weeks ago. The significant U.S. publication published a list prepared by the New Jersey-based Bretton Woods research institute that ranked Hungary as the ninth best when examining the economic environment of 46 countries.
“The macro-economic stance of the government on-going for years has started to yield results. We hope that this news will spread all over the world", the Minister of State said.
Investing EUR 8-9 billion, France is the third-fourth largest investor in Hungary after Austria and Germany, he said. He reminded that the Hungarian government concluded strategic partnership agreements with six French companies (Sanofi, Egis, Servier, Veolia, Schneider Electric, Le Bélier).
"We hope that this number can further increase, the French will be able to compete with the Austrians and the Germans, they will bring new investments to Hungary, will create new jobs and even more small and medium-sized enterprises will become suppliers, thereby contributing to the development of Hungarian industry", he added.