Samsung and the Slovak government signed an agreement covering state aid for its planned 320 million euros ($422 million U.S.) LCD television screen plant in Western Slovakia. The plant should employ 1,200 workers.

State subsidies should amount to 21.9 percent of the total investment, said Lubomir Jahnatek, economy minister for the Republic of Slovakia. The plant at the village of Voderady, around 30 miles from the capital Bratislava, is expected to start production in March 2008 with annual output reaching 10 million screens a year.

Samsung will also bring seven subcontractors in its wake, which will invest around 10 billion koruna (around 294 million euros) and create an additional 4,500 jobs, Jahnatek said.

Samsung already has a plant at Galanta, in Southwest Slovakia, where it produces laser printers, plasma TV screens, DVD players and computer screens. The company's European research center has also been sited in the town.

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