Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency

The Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) is one of the most significant FDI-related events in the world. This year, due to the pandemic situation, the multi-day programme went digital, whose participants include some of the highest-level decision-makers of the business and government sector, alongside entrepreneurs and researchers from all over the world, all joining this event to get familiar with the current trends and the latest strategic approaches. The conference in 2020 primarily addressed the issue of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, and the alternatives for its management.

After Hungary's success at the congress in 2019, this year the country was again granted the AIM Investment Award for the best agency in the region. The professional board's decision was based on the results of 2019, which surpassed every previous investment promotion record, and was justified by SK Innovation's choice to invest in the expansion of its Hungarian production plant, as a significant unit in the region.

2019 was another record year for the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), as it was in 2019 for the first time in its history that the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects exceeded 100 in Hungary. Last year a total of 101 projects attracted investments worth EUR 5,350 million, creating 13,493 million new jobs. In this, investors from countries under the 'Opening to the East' policy, namely South Korea, Japan and China, played a decisive role, with a majority of them being involved in electro-mobility. It is also remarkable that last year South Korea excelled both in terms of invested volume (around 50%) and the number of new jobs (over 30%).

As Róbert Ésik, CEO of HIPA, stated: