Slovakia promises support for Kia Motors

Slovakian Prime Minister Roberto Fico said that his government will continue to support and promote economic cooperation between Slovakia and Korea.

Fico made the comment during a visit to the Hyundai Kia Automotive Group’s research and development center in Namyang, Gyeonggi Province.

The prime minister said that he was impressed by the auto group’s technological capabilities and that his government will continue to support Kia’s Slovak operations.

Completed in April this year, Kia Motors’ Slovakian plant, located near the city of Zilina, 200 kilometers northwest of the capital Bratislava, is the Hyunda-Kia’s first production facility in Europe.

“The success of Kia Motors’ Slovakian plant and the rising sales of the cee’d is helping to develop the country’s automotive industry,” Fico said.

“The Slovakian government will provide all possible support in developing Kia Motors’ Slovakian plant into the centerpiece of increasing cooperation between Korea and Slovakia.”

On the tour of Hyundai-Kia’s research center, the prime minister was accompanied by a 20-member Slovakian delegation including the country’s Minister of Economy Lubomir Jahnatek and Export Import bank chairman Igor Lichnovosky.

The Slovakian leader arrived in Korea on Tuesday on a four-day visit.

Following the tour, Fico and the Slovakian delegation attended a dinner reception hosted by the group’s chairman Chung Mong-koo in Seoul.

In a speech, Chung praised the Slovak government’s open foreign investment policies and said that the two countries’ relations have undergone significant changes in the recent years.

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