The investment programme by Siemens Energy holds special significance, as the company has constructed a new production hall, opened a training centre, and installed a solar park to generate part of the energy required for its operations, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Thursday in Budapest.
According to the ministry’s statement, the minister highlighted at the inauguration ceremony of Siemens Energy Ltd’s new plant that the German conglomerate will manufacture gas turbine burners in its new multifunctional facility and establish a dual training centre there, equipping Hungarian professionals with the knowledge needed for using the latest technologies. Additionally, they will put into operation a 1.5-megawatt solar park created under the Factory Rescue Programme. This three-part investment programme represents a value of HUF 26 billion, with the government providing approximately HUF 900 million in support, he informed.
In his speech, Szijjártó emphasized that this investment programme excellently aligns with the primary goals of Hungary’s energy strategy, namely to ensure that the country can produce as much of the energy needed for its operation as possible. In this context, he noted that humanity currently lives in an era of dangers, and the crises of recent years have demonstrated that
countries with the most strategic capabilities, particularly in terms of energy security, can be better protected
and less vulnerable.
‘The past years have proven that a country can only be truly strong if it has the necessary capabilities for energy production. This is why we are constructing new blocks in Paks and ensuring the technical and technological conditions for the security of our own energy supply,’ he stressed. Szijjártó stated that since the government signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Siemens Energy, the company has doubled its revenues in Hungary, increased its workforce by 400 employees, and carried out nearly HUF 50 billion worth of investments.
He highlighted that the company will continue to play a key role in Hungary’s energy supply security, as Siemens Energy, in collaboration with the French company Framatome, won the tender to deliver the control technology for the new Paks nuclear power plant. In this regard, the minister pointed out that the Paks expansion is a truly international project, with American, French, German, Austrian, and Swiss companies working alongside the Russian main contractor. ‘What is happening today in Hungary regarding nuclear energy offers a kind of hope that common sense has not completely disappeared from international life and gives hope that in the future, we might return to a normal international cooperation based on mutual respect,’ he said. The minister asserted that Hungary intends to remain the meeting point of Eastern and Western economies, where Eastern and Western companies can collaborate peacefully. ‘We encourage this cooperation and believe that current global political challenges could be handled much more effectively if we could maintain such international cooperation based on mutual respect and common sense,’ he concluded.
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