Debrecen is becoming more and more well-known on the international stage, and this is a recognition of the city’s work, Deputy Mayor Lajos Barcsa said.
London-based Emerging Europe is a business, media, and research platform dedicated to contributing to the social and economic development of 23 countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
At the Emerging Europe Awards in 2019, Debrecen took 3rd place in the “Urban FDI Strategy” category.
In 2019, the Business-Friendly City Perception Index, or Supportive Business Environment Survey, was also launched as part of the Emerging Europe Awards Program. As part of this, Emerging Europe began to study the cities in collaboration with various consultants, specialists, and experts working in the field of FDI to improve the awareness of business leaders about each country in the event of their foreign expansion.
Deputy Mayor Lajos Barcsa said that overall, Debrecen showed the biggest progress compared to the previous year. Debrecen jumped from 27th place to 19th position.
In addition to advancing on the overall list, Debrecen also achieved outstanding results in 3 of the 8 categories examined this year.
In the category of “Economic Potential” Debrecen — the only Hungarian city in the survey — finished in 3rd place. In the last five years, nearly HUF 680 billion worth of foreign investment has arrived in Debrecen, creating 6,500 new jobs. The BMW plant, the total industrial park area of 1,300 hectares, the newly established SME Park, the advanced infrastructure, the skilled workforce, the business-focused education system, the satisfaction of existing companies, and stable political and economic conditions support Debrecen to be a popular and competitive investment destination for years. All of these have contributed significantly to the city achieving this prestigious position.
Debrecen took 3rd place in the category of “Local Authority Support” ahead of its regional competitors, including Krakow, Riga, and Brno. Experts awarded cities that provide professional investment promotion services in this category and have an effective support system.
The city also took 6th place in the “Business Environment” category. Experts have awarded cities that have created a business environment that supports businesses’ establishment, stable operation, and growth thanks to local regulations and economic incentives. An excellent example of this in Debrecen is the Debrecen BSC Roundtable, which currently has nine members, and realized they need to enforce their common interests more effectively.
In addition to the current awards, fDI Intelligence, a division of the Financial Times (UK), ranked Debrecen in the TOP 10 list of the world’s best investment promotion destinations in 2020. Debrecen has also won the Emerging City of the Year Award at the CEE Shared Services and Outsourcing Awards after 2017 for the second time.
Further strengthening its investment position, the city has developed the “Debrecen 2030” strategy, an EUR 1.8 billion development program. It includes 21st-century large-scale infrastructure development projects such as the development of Debrecen International Airport to increase its capacity and passenger traffic to 2-3 million people per year, developing transport infrastructure, further expanding the existing infrastructure and utility capacity of the Southern Industrial Park, as well as the development of infrastructure in the Northwest Economic Zone that will house the BMW plant including a high-capacity rail logistics center and container terminal.
debrecen.hu
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