Košice is the second largest town of Slovakia. (source: Adobe Stock )
Long overlooked by investors, the announcement by Swedish carmaker Volvo of plans to build a major production facility in eastern Slovakia has renewed investor interest in the region.
“Eastern Slovakia has huge potential,” Katarína Miňová, regional manager of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Slovakia, said at the AmCham conference “18 Right Steps for a Competitive Eastern Slovakia” in Košice in late January 2024.
The investments will bring not just significant revenue to the state budget but also create well-paid jobs. They are also expected to boost the local population’s purchasing power, raise living standards, contribute to the development of other entrepreneurial activities, and improve the investment environment in the region.
Volvo’s €1.2-billion plant for production of electric cars will be located near Košice. The investment is expected to transform the region.
Phases of development
Eastern Slovakia, which encompasses two of the eight administrative regions of Slovakia – Košice and Prešov – and accounts for one third of the country’s territory and population, has already been through a number of distinct development phases.
First came the launch of steelmaker VSŽ, now U.S. Steel Košice (USSK), 60 years ago. The next was in the 1990s when the country’s market opened up to the world, and foreign businesses began to come to the region, recalled Miňová.
U. S. Steel Košice (source: Courtesy of USSK)
“A strong metallurgical industry and local universities laid the groundwork for the arrival of IT firms after 1990, which continually contributed to transforming the Košice basin into a modern IT valley,” explained Miňová.
