The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with the participation of the Hungarian Export Development Agency HEPA and the CED Central European Economic Development Network, is launching a program to support the expansion of Hungarian companies abroad and to become a regional or global multinational companies. The conditions of eligibility are set out in Decree 31/2021 (VIII. 31.) of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs, based on the rules for subsidies of the External Market Growth Support Program. The two designated professional support organizations, HEPA Hungarian Export Development Agency Nonprofit Zrt. and CED Central European Economic Development Network Nonprofit Kft. continuously receive, develop and evaluate the project proposals. In the year 2021, HUF 10 billion will be available to support projects. CED handles applications for areas covered by cross-border economic development strategies, and HEPA handles applications for areas outside it. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs decide individually on the professional support organisation for the concepts affecting both target areas at the same time.
The support can also be used for the implementation of a domestic/foreign investment, the expansion of an existing domestic/foreign enterprise or the purchase and development of a domestic/foreign facility that is deemed to be closed.
Applications for the program can be submitted by handing in an investment concept from the 1st of September 2021, which must be submitted electronically as described in the Guide.
The investment concept is evaluated by HEPA/CED and on the basis of which the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade decides whether to support it or not. If the concept is supported, HEPA/CED will sign a cooperation agreement with the investor, after which, as a result of a consultation procedure, the investor must hand in a detailed application for the support within a maximum period of six months. If the application for the support is approved, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade will determine the amount of the grant, after which the support contract can be signed.
The investment concept must be submitted electronically to the official email address of the Foreign Market Growth Support Program: kntp@hepa.hu.
The Guide, the data sheet for the investment concept and other documents required to submit the concept are available on HEPA's website.