BRATISLAVA, September 9, (WEBNOVINY) — Interest of already established investors to continue expanding in Slovakia is increasing. The Slovak Agency for Investment and Trade Development (SARIO) currently registers over 100 investment projects worth approximately EUR 3.5 billion which should facilitate creation of up to 24,000 new jobs. “Planned investments of already established investors account for one-third of these investments. The current trend indicates that the share of expansions of completed projects will continue growing,” said SARIO head Robert Simoncic at a press meeting on Friday.
“Slovakia has huge potential in the area of already established investors. I think that existing investors in Slovakia should be paid if not priority attention then at least as much attention as attracting new investors,” added Economy Minister Juraj Miskov. “The latest trend in development of foreign direct investments shows that the established foreign investors have positive experience with Slovakia,” added Simononcic. SARIO has therefore decided to provide free individual client services to established foreign investors.
Simoncic attaches priority to expansion of already established investors in the IT sector. At present, the IT company HP Slovakia is expanding its local business and takes on seventy specialized IT technology experts every month. HP Slovakia Director General Martin Kubala said at a press meeting on Friday that the company should hire 2,000 new employees in upcoming months while in the summer of last year, the company had together 1,000 employees. SARIO head also believes that Slovakia will be successful in convincing some established investors to situate their R&D centers in Slovakia.
Economy Minister Juraj Miskov (SaS) is not worried about another potential return of the crisis. “I see optimism so pessimism or skepticism is out of question in this regard. I would like to emphasize that optimism rather than pessimism prevails in Slovak companies,” underscored Miskov adding that companies have contracted orders for several years in advance. The minister does not have any information indicating that some investor is planning to relocate from Slovakia.
SITA