Valaliky, the locality where Volvo will build its brand new car plant. (source: TASR)
In 2018 Robert Fico, who was then prime minister, made headlines when he dismissed the suggestion that mafia gangs could be interested in eastern Slovakia, claiming the idea was absurd because “there is nothing out there”.
But recent investment decisions by Swedish carmaker Volvo and German engineering and technology company Bosch have shown that whatever appeal the region may hold for organised criminal gangs, some of the world’s biggest firms are certainly interested.
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Katarína Miňová, policy manager of the Košice branch of AmCham Slovakia, said the decisions – especially Volvo’s, to open up a new €1.2 billion plant for the production of electric vehicles in the region – put not just Slovakia, but eastern Slovakia in particular, on global investors’ maps.
“The government must take advantage of this opportunity and not hesitate in its efforts to attract investment for Slovakia that is sophisticated and linked to the promotion of research and development,” she told The Slovak Spectator.
Miňová said the construction of the plant, as well Bosch’s move to expand its production in the region, projected confidence in Slovakia’s economic potential despite the fact that a war is raging across its eastern border.
She urged the government to use foreign investment policy to transform the economy and help carry out crucial structural reforms.
“If we do not use the Volvo investment as a last opportunity to build added value from foreign investment, Slovakia will irreversibly become the assembly workshop of Europe.”
Biggest investment in the east since U.S. Steel
Volvo Cars automotive group announced in early July that Slovakia had been chosen as the site of its new electric vehicle production plant.
