World's 3rd Largest LCD Maker picks Slovakia as its manufacturing centre in EU

BRATISLAVA, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Taiwan's AU Optronics Corp (2409.TW), the world's No.3 LCD maker, will invest around 191 million euros ($287.9 million) in Slovakia to build an LCD assembly plant, a government source said on Wednesday.

The project, the biggest foreign direct investment project since the country joined the euro zone in January, is expected to create some 1,800 direct jobs.

The economy ministry said it would hold a press conference later in the day on an unspecified foreign investment project. ($1=.6635 Euro)


General information on the Slovak Republic

Geographical location: Central Europe
Area: 49 035 km2
Population: 5 379 455
Borders:

• Hungary
• Poland
• Austria
• the Czech Republic
• Ukraine

Religions:

• Catholic Church - 68.9%
• Evangelical Church - 6.9%
• No faith - 13.0%
• Others - 11.2%

Minority groups:

• Slovak nationality - 85.5%
• Hungarian - 9.7%
• Roma - 1.7%
• Czech - 0.8%
• Others - 2.0%

Time zone: GMT + 1 hour
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Parliamentary system: republic
Official language: Slovak
Election system: proportional representation
Election term: 4 years
Membership:

• OSN
• OECD
• WTO
• Visegrad Group
• NATO
• EU

Administrative division of the Slovak Republic

The following are the self-governing regions, and their administrative centres:

• Bratislava region - Bratislava
• Trnava Region - Trnava
• Trencin Region - Trencin
• Nitra Region - Nitra
• Zilina Region - Zilina
• Banska Bystrica Region - Banska Bystrica
• Kosice Region - Kosice
• Presov Region - Presov