BRATISLAVA, June 24, (WEBNOVINY) — Foreign investors are still very much interested in Slovakia. As the Deputy Director General of the Slovak Agency for Investment and Trade Development (SARIO), Andrea Gulova, said at Friday’s news conference, they are mostly companies from the automotive and electronics industries. „They are primarily suppliers for these sectors,“ she explained. According to Economy Minister Juraj Miskov and head of the Slovak Agency for Investment and Trade Development Robert Simoncic, particularly interested in Slovakia are investors with higher added value in areas such as development centers, and IT. „Here we see continued growth,“ said Simoncic.
Minister Miskov disclosed at the press conference that one of these investors is the company T-Systems. In the autumn of this year, it should bring to Kosice its research and development and employ about a dozen workers. „In the future, the company plans to grow further,“ he said.
The Slovak Agency for Investment and Trade Development in presently working on 102 investment projects. Within these projects, about 4 billion euros could be invested in Slovakia and 28 000 new jobs created. „Approximately 70 percent of the registered investment projects are ‘active’. That means we are in daily communication with these investors,” said Gulova. According to her, this year will be more successful than last year for Slovakia regarding arrival of foreign investors, when the agency concluded twenty investment projects. „It is hard to say in advance how many projects will be completed,“ stated Gulova.
According to Simoncic, in the near term the agency wants focus on proactively seeking „high-quality investments“ to help Slovakia grow. „The main goal is to create jobs. But we are not talking about the number of jobs, but their quality,“ said Simoncic. According to him, SARIO wants to focus on working with investors already operating in Slovakia. „That is a very important mission for us,“ he said. For this purpose, the Association for the Development of Investments (ISA) was created, which should be in charge of working with existing investors and provide them professional services in various sectors. „Through this organization, we will be able to attract more investments,“ said Simoncic.
SITA